Sensex in green; Indiabulls Housing Finance rallies by over 18 per cent

Domestic benchmark indices rose today, following banking and financial stocks, as Nifty soared by 66.80 points or 0.65 per cent at 10,311.20 and Sensex gained by 179.59 points or 0.52 per cent to reach a level of 34,911.32.

BSE showed an 18.49 per cent rally on Indiabulls Housing Finance's stock after Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) Pte acquired stake in the company through a bulk deal. Post Glenmark Pharmaceuticals' announcement that it has received Indian regulatory approval to manufacture and sell antiviral drug Favipiravir to be used for treating mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms, the company's stock skyrocketed by 27.06 per cent on intraday basis.

On the other hand, globally, European stocks opened lower as FTSE 100 dropped by 0.14 per cent while DAX and CAC 40 dipped by 0.13 per cent each. Crude oil prices fell on fears of rising coronavirus infections worldwide which could potentially stall the fuel demand.

On a positive note, the price of gold, a safe-haven asset, rose to its highest in over a month at Rs 50,005 for 10 grams of 24k gold. Amid buying witnessed in the domestic markets, Indian rupee gained 16 paise to stand at 76.03 per dollar as against Friday's close of 76.19 per dollar.

Sensex winners consisted of Bajaj Auto soaring by 6.89 per cent, Bajaj Finance gaining by 5.34 per cent, Bajaj Finserv increasing by 4.85 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank rising by 4.14 per cent, Power Grid which went up by 3.76 per cent, etc. Sensex draggers comprised ONGC dropping by 0.99 per cent, TCS declining by 0.92 per cent, RIL dipping by 0.70 per cent, Infosys decreasing by 0.28 per cent, etc.