Relief packages buoy stock market

Mumbai: Sensex and Nifty-50 staged a breakout rally after trading in a narrow range for more than a week and rose by 0.8 per cent on government relief packages for telecom and auto sectors, positive macro economic data and Covid vaccination progress.

The Nifty-50 closed above 17500 for the first time as it gained 139.45 points or 0.80 per cent to close at 17519.45 while the Sensex closed 476 points or 0.82 per cent up at 58723.20 points.

"The fact that the breadth of the market has improved sharply over the last few days and that Nifty has moved up against negative global headwinds is reassuring. This could mean that India as a market could be less impacted by global turmoil going forward," said Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities.
BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices also gained 0.65  per cent and 0.86 per cent, respectively.

"The measures announ-ced for the telecom and auto industry are sweeping with potential for far-reaching beneficial impact. This is positive for banks, too, since banks' exposure too will decline significantly. 100 per cent FDI in telecom and redefinition of AGR excluding non-core revenue are welcome steps that can stimulate investment in the industry, " V. K. Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services said.

Telecom stocks rallied led by Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel. The BSE Bankex gained 0.61 per cent. Auto stocks too rallied with the BSE Auto gaining 0.93 per cent.