The Indian equity benchmarks gained for third session in a row on Tuesday as investors placed bullish bets on index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and HDFC Bank. The Sensex rose as much as 754 points and Nifty 50 index moved above its important psychological level of 17,800. The markets have begun 2022 on a strong note on hopes of reforms in the upcoming Union Budget to spur the economic recovery at a faster pace which has been impacted by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, analysts said.
The Sensex ended 673 points higher at 59,856 and Nifty 50 index advanced 180 points to close at 17,805.
Investors are now focusing on focusing on upcoming Union Budget wherein the government will announce measures to spur economic growth in the country which has been disrupted by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, analysts said.
Eleven of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Oil & Gas index's 1.3 per cent gain. Nifty Bank, PSU Bank, Consumer Durables, Private Bank, IT, FMCG and Financial Services indices also rose between 0.5-1.2 per cent.
On the other hand, Metal, Pharma, Healthcare and Real Estate shares witnessed selling pressure.
Broader markets underperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.27 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.3 per cent.
NTPC was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 5.2 per cent to close at Rs 132.50 after news agency PTI reported that the company is planning to acquire 5 per cent equity stake in Power Exchange of India Ltd (PXIL).
ONGC, State Bank of India, Power Grid, Reliance Industries, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank, Grasim Industries, TCS and Kotak Mahindra Bank also rose between 1.5-3.7 per cent.
On the flipside, Tata Motors, Coal India, Tata Consumer Products, Sun Pharma, Shree Cements, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank, Eicher Motors, Cipla and Divi's Labs were among the losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,892 shares ended higher while 1,489 closed lower on the BSE.
