Domestic stock markets maintained their momentum on Tuesday afternoon amid gains in Asian peers as the country entered the seventh day of a 21-day nationwide lockout to fight the spread of the deadly coronavirus pandemic. The S&P BSE Sensex index rose to an intra-day high of 29,509.67 on the upside in noon deals and the broader NSE Nifty benchmark climbed to as high as 8,604.05. Gains across sectors pushed the markets higher, led by financial, IT, consumer goods and metal shares.
At 12:54 pm, the Sensex traded 985.20 points - or 3.46 per cent - higher at 29,423, while the Nifty was up 296.75 points - or 3.5 per cent - at 8,577.85.
As many as 47 stocks in the 50-scrip Nifty basket moved higher at the time. Top percentage gainers were Bharat Petroleum, Hindalco, HDFC, HCL Tech and ONGC, trading between 4.89 percent and 6.66 percent higher. On the other hand, IndusInd Bank nosedived 12.5 percent to Rs 360, while Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Finserv shed around 1 percent each.
Reliance Industries, (up 3.70 percent), Infosys (4.59 percent), HDFC Bank (2.17 percent) and HDFC (2.52 percent) together accounted for a gain of nearly 350 points in the Sensex.
Meanwhile, the NSE VIX declined 6.9 percent to 66 on account of the rise in the benchmark indices.
Market breadth favored gains with an advance-decline ratio of almost 3:1, as 1,359 stocks on the BSE traded higher against 685 that moved lower.
Analysts say that volatility cannot be ruled out in the near term as investors assess the rising coronavirus cases against the policy measures announced to curb the outbreak.
Equities in other Asian markets managed a tentative rally with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rising 1.1, and Japan's Nikkei index firming up 1.0 percent after a jittery start. South Korea added 2 percent.
China held out the hope of a rebound in activity even as other countries across the globe all but shut down. China's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) bounced to 52.0 in March, up from a record-low 35.7 in February and topping forecasts of 45.0.
E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 traded 0.6 percent higher.
The global oil benchmark Brent crude plunged to its cheapest level in almost 18 years on Monday. Brent futures fell 8.7 percent to end at $22.76 a barrel - the lowest close since November 2002.
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