Sensex surges more than 400 points; ICICI Bank gains by more than 5 per cent, DHFL locks at upper circuit

On Monday, bulls dominated over the domestic markets as Sensex surged by 448.62 points or 1.12 per cent to settle at 40,431.60 levels while Nifty gained by 0.94 per cent or 110.60 points to close at 11,873.05 levels.

Investors’ sentiments during today’s trading session remained high on hopes of the US stimulus package before the presidential election and also, due to the expectations of a COVID-19 vaccine by the year-end. Meanwhile, banking and FMCG stocks remained in focus.

As for the global markets, Asian indices such as Hang Seng, Nikkei, and KOSPI gained by 0.64 per cent, 1.11 per cent, and 0.22 per cent, respectively whereas Shanghai index declined by 0.71 per cent. In the European markets, FTSE 100 was trading lower by 0.21 per cent, CAC 40 was up by 0.82 per cent while DAX was trading flat.

Sensex gainers consisted of ICICI Bank that was up by 5.33 per cent, Axis Bank increased by 4.43 per cent, Nestle India surged by 4.25 per cent, SBI jumped by 4.21 per cent, HDFC gained by 3.76 per cent, IndusInd Bank rose by 3.09 per cent, ONGC gained by 3.05 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank increased by 3.01 per cent, etc.

Sensex losers included Bajaj Auto that went down by 2.12 per cent, TCS fell by 1.76 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra decreased by 1.49 per cent, Bharti Airtel fell by 1.07 per cent, Maruti Suzuki decreased by 0.70 per cent, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries declined by 0.59 per cent and Infosys fell by 0.18 per cent.

Amongst sectoral indices on BSE, Bankex was the biggest gainer, up by 3.35 per cent. Auto index was the biggest loser, down by 1.12 per cent. The broader markets remained timid as BSE Small-Cap Index gained by 0.43 per cent while BSE Mid-Cap Index rose by 0.58 per cent.