Mumbai: The Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange rose 996 points to reach above 31,600 points on Wednesday. Banking and IT shares have also recorded a boom. After touching a high of 31,660.60 points during trading, the Sensex finally ended 995.92 points, or 3.25 percent, at 31,605.22 points. The 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed up 285.90 points, or 3.17 percent, at 9,314.95 points.
Among the Sensex companies, Axis Bank was the biggest gainer with over 14 per cent profit. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finance were the top gainers. In contrast, shares of Sun Pharma, UltraTech Cement, Titan and Asian Paints declined. Market experts said that despite concerns over Covid-19, market participants had extended their purchase of shares, looking at the settlement date of the May futures and options trading contracts. This led to a sharp rise in the index.
There are also positive signs from overseas markets. The strong inflow of foreign funds also saw enthusiasm among traders. Foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth Rs 4,716.13 crore on Tuesday. Tokyo and Seoul markets closed in profit. There was a decline in Shanghai and Hong Kong. The international benchmark Brent crude oil futures fell 0.91 percent to USD 35.84 a barrel. At the same time, the Indian rupee softened by 5 paise to 75.71 rupee per dollar in the currency market.
