Sensex up 375 points, metals and financials outperform

Equity benchmark indices showed resilience on Thursday despite a record single-day spike of over three lakh Covid-19 cases across the country and closed 0.8 per cent higher.

The volatile session, however, was marked with uncertainty among investor community amid localised lockdowns and severe restrictions on movements which many said will impact economic growth in the near-term.

The BSE S&P Sensex closed 375 points or 0.79 per cent higher at 48,081 while the Nifty 50 climbed by 110 points or 0.77 per cent to 14,406.

Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty financial service rising by 2.1 per cent, private bank by 1.8 per cent and metal by 1.7 per cent. But Nifty FMCG dipped by 0.78 per cent, pharma by 0.3 per cent and IT by 0.2 per cent.

Among stocks, ICICI Bank advanced by 3.4 per cent to Rs 578.40 per share, Kotak Mahindra Bank by 2.1 per cent to Rs 1,734 and HDFC Bank by 2.1 per cent to Rs 1,421.

Wipro was up by 3.5 per cent, Tata Steel by 3.2 per cent, JSW Steel by 2.9 per cent and Bajaj Auto by 2.2 per cent.

However, those in the negative terrain were Titan, Hindustan Lever, Nestle India, Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra and Tata Motors.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks rose after a rebound in global markets following a sharp selloff earlier this week.

Japan led gains with the Nikkei 225 rallying 2.38 per cent after sliding 2 per cent in each of the last two sessions.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up by 0.47 per cent and South Korea's Kospi inched up by 0.18 per cent.

( With inputs from ANI )