Sensex soars 431 pts on rate cut buzz, regains 24,000-mark

The benchmark Sensex continued its post-Budget rally for the second straight day by zooming over 431 points to get past the 24,000-mark today in anticipation of policy easing by RBI amid positive global markets.
The talk of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank gained momentum following the government's commitment to the fiscal deficit road map as displayed in the Budget while the rupee rose against the dollar, which supported the upbeat mood.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley maintained the fiscal deficit target for 2016-17 at 3.5 per cent of GDP.
The 30-share index, which had posted its biggest single-day rally of 777.35 points in almost 7 years in yesterday's session, added 431.27 points or 1.81 per cent to 24,210.62, with all sectoral indices led by banking, PSU, and realty notching up gains.

The NSE Nifty 50 index reclaimed the 7,300-level by climbing 129.10 points, or 1.78 per cent, at 7,351.40.
Brokers said a pick-up in buying momentum, tracking a firming trend in the rest of Asia, following the overnight rally in the US on improved economic data, helped both key indices regain their crucial levels.

In addition, a fresh spell of buying by foreign investors after remaining major sellers buoyed mood.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was trading higher by 2.68 per cent while Nikkei surged 4.04 per cent in early trade. Shanghai Composite was quoting 2.25 per cent higher.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 2.11 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.