Sensex surges 500 points as auto, banking, tech stocks lead gains

Dubai - Broader Asian markets eased after two sessions of gains, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan losing 0.5 per cent and Japan's Nikkei dropping 0.7 per cent.

The BSE Sensex surged by 520 points or 1.73 per cent to touch 30,587.72 points on Wednesday and NSE Nifty 50 index was at 8,951.90 to record a rise of 1.82 per cent or 159.70 points. The rebound in stocks was attributed to gains in auto, banking and tech scrips.

The stocks had slipped more than 1 per cent in early trade on Wednesday, in line with broader Asian indices, as investors weighed the slowing rate of Covid-19 infections against rising deaths across the globe.

India, which has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the spread of the coronavirus, reported more than 4,000 infections and over 120 deaths, as of Tuesday. Broader Asian markets eased after two sessions of gains, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan losing 0.5 per cent and Japan's Nikkei dropping 0.7 per cent. In the US, the S&P 500 ended Tuesday down 0.16 per cent after gaining as much as 3.5 per cent.

In Mumbai, the Nifty Auto index slipped more than 2 per cent, with Maruti Suzuki edging 2.3 per cent lower. The maker of the iconic Maruti 800 on Tuesday flagged a more than 32 per cent drop in passenger vehicle production in March.

The Indian rupee slipped 21 paise to 75.85 against the US dollar in early trade. The currency closed at Dh20.64 after having touched a low of 21.05.

Jateen Trivedi, senior research analyst, Commodity & Currency at LKP Securities, said: "Rupee traded strong on back of stronger inflow of money into the risky assets classes like equities and on overseas inflows into local assets amid glimmering hopes of the coronavirus pandemic plateauing in Europe and nearing flattening in the US. Adding to that, the greenback retreated against its major counterparts as investors' sentiment improved globally on reports of pandemic plateauing in Europe. Overall the trend is still weak for rupee till the time 75 acts a barrier. Rupee has to scale above 75 for trend to change, and as of now this selling can be attributed as buying opportunity."

With inputs from agencies

sandhya@khaleejtimes.com