Sensex & Nifty continue to rally; SBI hits fresh 52-week high, ITC jumps more than 6 per cent

On Thursday, bulls continued to dominate the domestic stock markets. Sensex rallied by 358.54 points or 0.71 per cent to close 506.29 levels while Nifty rose by 105.70 points or 0.71 per cent to settle at 14,895.65. 

The shares in the domestic equity market continued their upward trend, driven by Union Budget optimism as investors rushed to take advantage of any intra-dip opportunities.  

In the global markets, Asian indices such as Shanghai Composite index, Hang Seng, Nikkei, and KOSPI underperformed, down by 0.44 per cent, 0.66 per cent, 1.06 per cent and 1.35 per cent, respectively. On the other hand, in the European markets, indices such as DAX and CAC 40 were trading in the green, up by 0.29 per cent and 0.30 per cent, respectively while FTSE 100 traded flat with a positive bias.  

Sensex gainers included ITC that jumped 6.11 per cent, SBI surged 5.73 per cent, Bajaj Finance gained 4.85 per cent, ONGC increased by 4.72 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra went up by 4.02 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank inched higher by 3.21 per cent, Bajaj Finserv rose by 1.96 per cent, etc. 

Sensex losers consisted of Asian Paints that plunged 2.08 per cent, IndusInd Bank slumped 1.68 per cent, Bharti Airtel decreased by 1.49 per cent, Tech Mahindra went down by 1.28 per cent, Titan Company fell by 1 per cent, Infosys weakened by 0.50 per cent, etc. 

Amongst sectoral indices on BSE, the Power index became the biggest gainer, up by 2.56 per cent.