Markets rally for 3rd day; Sensex jumps 817 points

The outcome of Assembly elections in five States also acted as a factor in the surge

A man walks out of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai, India. File | Photo Credit: Reuters

Equity benchmarks continued their winning momentum for the third day on Thursday and jumped over 1.50%, tracking an overall bullish trend in Asian equities.

On the political front, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headed for a second straight win in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh and dominated the trends chart in three other States.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex opened in the green and further zoomed 1,595.14 points or 2.91% to 56,242.47 during early trade. However, it pared some of the early gains during the fag-end of trade amid weak European markets and recovery in oil prices. It finally settled at 55,464.39, higher by 817.06 points or 1.50%.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty jumped 249.55 points or 1.53% to close at 16,594.90.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle and Maruti Suzuki India were the biggest gainers, jumping up to 5.17%.

In contrast, Tech Mahindra, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Tata Consultancy Services were the laggards.

"Indian market witnessed a strong recovery after a brutal fall thanks to some positive news flows on the Russia-Ukraine standoff that to rally in global equity markets and cool off in commodity prices. The outcome of State election results is also acting as a tailwind for the Indian equity market however, it has the impact of only one day and the main focus of the market will remain on the Russia-Ukraine issue because there are still uncertainties.

"U.S. inflations numbers will be announced today and it will act as a critical factor in the upcoming U.S. Fed meeting. Markets are likely to remain volatile till the Fed meeting," said Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd.

Bourses in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Shanghai settled higher.

Stock exchanges in the U.S. settled with significant gains on Wednesday.

European stock exchanges were trading lower.

In the previous trade, the BSE benchmark settled at 54,647.33, higher by 1,223.24 points or 2.29%, notching up the biggest single-day gain since February 25.

The Nifty also climbed 331.90 points or 2.07% to end at 16,345.35.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 4.91% $116.6 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors continued their selling spree in Indian markets as they offloaded shares worth ₹4,818.71 crore on a net basis on Wednesday, according to exchange data.