Sensex surges 1,000 points, Nifty tops 9,000; Cipla most active

Mumbai: Indian markets extended gains in the afternoon trade as auto, pharma and metal stocks witnessed buying.

As of 12:15 pm, the Sensex was up 981 points or 3.28% while the Nifty50 index was higher by 291 points or 3.32%. Cipla was the top gainer in the Nifty, up 13.30%.

Among the Sensex stocks, the top gainers were Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki India and Bajaj Auto, while Hindustan Unil

Equity benchmark Sensex soared over 900 points in opening trade on Thursday led by gains in financial, IT and FMCG stocks following rise global equities on hopes of the COVID-19 pandemic approaching its peak.

After hitting a high of 30,847.10, the 30-share BSE barometer was trading 925.67 points or 3.10 per cent higher at 30,819.63.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty was quoting 270.05 points, or 3.09 per cent, up at 9,018.80.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market, as they bought equity shares worth Rs 1,943.41 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data.

According to experts, hopes of another financial stimulus hope before the end of the lockdown period buoyed investor sentiment in early session.

Further, slowing pace of fresh COVID-19 cases has also lent some momentum to global markets, they said.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Seoul were trading on a positive note, while those in Tokyo were in the red.

Benchmark exchanges on Wall Street ended significantly higher in overnight trade.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.55 per cent to USD 33.34 per barrel.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in India rose to 166 and the number of cases to 5,734, according to the Union Health Ministry.

Global tally of the infections has crossed 14.8 lakh, with over 88,000 deaths.