Sensex, Nifty zoom over 2% on gains in bluechips

Mumbai: Key stock indices Sensex and Nifty surged by more than 2 per cent on Wednesday on gains in index heavyweight Reliance Industries and HDFC twins as investors looked at diplomatic efforts to end Russia's attack on Ukraine.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened in the green and further jumped 1,469.64 points or 2.75 per cent to 54,893.73 during the day. It finally settled at 54,647.33, higher by 1,223.24 points or 2.29 per cent.

The broader NSE Nifty climbed 331.90 points or 2.07 per cent to end at 16,345.35.

From the 30-share pack, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries Limited, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Indusind Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank and UltraTech Cement were the major gainers, jumping up to 5.56 per cent.

Asian Paints was the lead gainer among Sensex stocks, rising by 5.56 per cent. Reliance Industries soared 5.24 per cent, Bajaj Finserve by 5 per cent and HDFC Bank by 3.29 per cent.

In contrast, Power Grid Corporation, NTPC, Tata Steel, Nestle India and Wipro were the laggards.

Aviation stocks were in huge demand on Wednesday's trade as after a two-year hiatus, India will resume regular international flights from March 27. Shares of InterGlobe Aviation zoomed 6.94 per cent and SpiceJet jumped 6.05 per cent.

"Domestic indices carried forward yesterday's gains following a clawback in European markets and US futures as smart investors saw value in the current market valuations.

"The domestic market is also reacting positively to exit polls and in anticipation of in-line state election results. In the near term, the domestic market will trade as per the positive or negative surprise in the state election results and global trend," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Bourses in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo settled lower. Stock exchanges in the US closed in the negative territory on Tuesday.

European stocks opened higher while Futures for Wall Street's S&P 500 index and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose up to 1 per cent.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.22 per cent to USD 126.4 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors continued their selling spree in Indian markets as they offloaded shares worth Rs 8,142.60 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, according to exchange data.