Sensex zooms 1,075 points to two-month high, Nifty reclaims 11,600-mark on govt's tax booster; Bajaj Finance, ITC among top gainers

Stock markets continued the bull run for the straight second session on Monday driven by gains in financial, banking and FMCG stocks after the corporate tax cut by the government on Friday in a bid to revive the slowing economy.

Domestic equity benchmark BSE Sensex skyrocketed 1,075 points or nearly 3 percent to a two-month closing high on Monday driven by continued euphoria over the government's tax booster.

After soaring over 1,426 points during the day, the 30-share index ended 1,075.41 points or 2.8 percent higher at 39,090.03. The broader NSE Nifty reclaimed the 11,600 level, zooming 326 points or 2.9 percent to settle at 11,600.20.

In the previous session on Friday, the BSE barometer logged its biggest single-day jump in over a decade by surging 1,921.15 points or 5.32 percent to 38,014.62, while the NSE Nifty zoomed 569.40 points or 5.32 percent to end at 11,274.20.

Over the past two sessions, the Sensex has gained 2,996.56 points or 8.30 percent, while the Nifty advanced 895.40 points or 8.36 percent.

Representational image. Reuters

Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Bajaj Finance, L&T, Asian Paints, ITC, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC twins, Maruti and SBI, rallying up to 8.70 percent.

On the other hand, Infosys, RIL, Tata Motors, PowerGrid, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, TCS and HCL Tech tanked up to 4.97 percent.

Market continued to rally on Monday as investor sentiment remained euphoric for the second session in a row, traders said.

"Markets for the second day in a row, after the historic decision to cut corporate tax, witnessed a stellar rally. A lot of buoyancy has come from the fact that these measures will boost the profitability of a number of companies, which will either be used to stimulate demand by lowering prices, payouts to shareholders in the form of dividends or using it for capital expenditure," Devang Mehta, head - equity advisory, Centrum Wealth Management said.

The Nifty banking index, which tracks both state-owned and private-sector lenders, finished 5.41% higher, while the FMCG index closed up 4.31 percent, reported Reuters.

Bharat Petroleum Corp touched its highest level since March last year and topped the list of gainers among blue chips.

Hotel stocks were up after the cut in corporate taxes and rationalisation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates. Lemon Tree Hotels gained by 11.3 percent, Indian Hotels by 8.2 percent, ITC by 6.9 percent, Hotel Leelaventure by 3.6 percent and Chalet Hotels by 1.6 percent.

Bulls took over Dalal Street on Friday after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered a surprise cut in corporate tax rates.

Announcing the latest set of measures to jump-start flagging growth, the finance minister slashed the base corporate tax for existing companies to 22 percent from 30 percent; and for new manufacturing firms, incorporated after 1 October 2019, to 15 percent from 25 percent.

Further, the GST Council slashed the same on hotel tariffs and some goods with a view to addressing sectoral concerns in a slowing economy.

Meanwhile, the rupee was trading flat at 70.92 against US dollar.

Brent crude futures fell 0.79 percent to $63.77 per barrel (intra-day).

Elsewhere in Asia, Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite Index ended significantly higher, while Nikkei and Kospi settled in the red.

Stock exchanges in Europe were trading on a negative note in their respective early sessions.

— With inputs from agencies