The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes extended gains in afternoon trading led by strong buying interest in banking, financial services and capital goods shares as more and more industries reopen after coronavirus imposed lockdown. The benchmarks staged a gap up opening and built on the rally in second half of the session as heavyweights like HDFC, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Reliance Industries witnessed buying interest.
As of 2:12 pm, the Sensex was up 396 points at 38,830 and Nifty rose 106 points to 11,478.
Government on Sunday issued guidelines for restarting its entertainment industry even as infections breached the 30 lakh mark. As of Monday morning, virus cases in the country climbed by 61,408 to 31.1 lakh, according to health ministry data.
Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Private Bank index’s 2.5 per cent gain. Nifty Bank, financial services, capital goods and energy shares were also witnessing buying interest.
On the other hand, mild profit booking was seen in power sector shares after two sessions of strong gains.
Mid- and small-cap shares were witnessing good buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 1 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index rose 2 per cent.
Zee Entertainment was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 5 per cent to close at Rs 202. Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Eicher Motors and Axis Bank were also among the gainers.
On the flipside, Power Grid, Bharti Infratel, Hindalco, Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s Labs and Adani Ports were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,680 shares were advancing while 1,100 were declining on the BSE.
