Sensex soars 400 points, Nifty tops 10,800-level; banking, realty, auto shares in demand

Mumbai: The BSE Sensex surged over 400 points while the Nifty reclaimed the 10,800-mark in mid-session trade on Thursday on widespread buying, led by rate-sensitive banking, realty and auto shares. Markets had rallied on Wednesday as well after the RBI hiked the policy rate after a four-year pause on inflation concerns but maintained its neutral stance. Positive leads from Asian markets and sustained buying by domestic institutional investors added to the momentum, brokers said. [caption id=“attachment_4500709” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] The 30-share BSE Sensex opened on a strong footing at 35,278.38 and maintained its upward trend to hit a high of 35,591.13 at 1315 hrs by surging 412.25 points or 1.17 percent. The 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 118.75 points or 1.11 percent to 10,803.40. Shares of realty, metal, bankex, infrastructure, IT, oil and gas, teck, power, auto, healthcare, PSU, consumer durable and FMCG sectors witnessed robust demand, gaining up to 2.66 percent. Major index gainers were Tata Steel, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, RIL, Wipro, HUL, Yes Bank, Infosys, Adani Ports, ONGC, TCS, Asian Paints, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank IndusInd Bank, M&M and Bharti Airtel, rising up to 3.33 percent. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) had net bought shares worth Rs 712.31 crore, while foreign funds sold shares to the tune of Rs 81.40 crore on Wednesday, provisional exchange data showed.