Sensex zooms 521 points, reclaims 50,000 mark

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices regained momentum in afternoon deals on Thursday and closed over 1 per cent higher as the new financial year began amid positive global cues.

The BSE S&P Sensex closed 521 points or 1.05 per cent higher at 50,030 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 177 points or 1.2 per cent to 14,867.

Except for Nifty FMCG, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were in the green with Nifty metal up by 5.3 per cent, PSU bank by 2.6 per cent and auto by 1.6 per cent.

Among stocks, JSW Steel gained by 7.9 per cent to Rs 505.50 per share while Hindalco added a gain of 6.5 per cent to Rs 348.30. Tata Steel was up by 5.8 per cent to Rs 858.90 per unit.Adani Ports edged higher by 4.4 per cent, IndusInd Bank by 4.3 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank by 2.9 per cent and ICICI Bank by 2.1 per cent.However, Hindustan Lever, Nestle India, Britannia, HDFC Bank, HDFC Life and Tata Consultancy Services traded with a negative bias.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks crept higher as investors parsed the details of a 2 trillion dollar US government spending plan and hoped for strong jobs data later in the week.Japan`s Nikkei rose by 0.72 per cent as a survey showed big manufacturers` mood bouncing back to pre-pandemic levels.Hong Kong`s Hang Seng was up by 1.97 per cent and South Korea`s Kospi ticked up by 0.85 per cent.