Sensex starts FY22 with a 521-pt gain, ends above 50K; Metals, PSBs shine

Among the frontline indices, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex reclaimed the 50,000-mark on a closing basis and closed at 50,030, after advancing 521 points or 1.05 per cent. Earlier in the day, the index had briefly slipped in the red to touch a low of 49,478.5. On the NSE, the Nifty50 index closed at 14,867 levels, up 177 points or 1.2 per cent.

The index breadth remained firmly in the favour of the bulls as 25 of the 30 constituents on the Sensex and 41 of the 50 constituents on the Nifty settled the session in the green. IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, and UltraTech Cement outperformed the Sensex today, up between 2 per cent and 4 per cent. JSW Steel, Hindalco, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, and Hero MotoCorp were the additional gainers on the Nifty, rallying up to 8 per cent.

On the downside, HUL, Nestle India, TCS, Divis Labs, HDFC Life, TCS, and Titan ended lower between 0.32 per cent and 1.3 per cent.

Taking into consideration the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices' 1.66 per cent and 2 per cent gains, respectively, the overall market breadth was in the ratio of 1:3 in the favour of advances.

As regards sectoral performance, the Nifty Metal index settled over 5 per cent higher on the NSE today, followed by the Nifty PSU bank index, up 2.6 per cent. The Nifty Bank, Auto, Financial Services, Private Bank, and Pharma indices, meanwhile, gained up to 2 per cent. The Nifty IT and Realty indices closed with less than a per cent gain.

Global markets

Stocks crept higher on Thursday following their weakest quarter in a year, while higher Treasury yields supported the dollar. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei rose 1.3 per cent as a survey showed big manufacturers' mood bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels.

In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.5 per cent, the German DAX climbed 0.6 per cent to hit a record high, while the UK's FTSE 100 also gained 0.6 per cent.

Nasdaq Futures, meanwhile, were last up 0.9 per cent and S&P 500 futures added 0.4 per cent.

Note: Domestic markets shall remain shut on April 2 on account of Good Friday holiday.

(With inputs from Reuters)