Sensex jumps by nearly 2 percent; BSE Realty index zooms by 6 per cent

Domestic benchmark indices soared for a second consecutive day led by gains in RIL. During today's trading session, Nifty gained by 152.75 points or 1.51 per cent to settle at 10,244.40 while Sensex edged higher by 523.68 points or 1.53 per cent to close at 34,731.73.

Shares of RIL crossed the market capitalisation of Rs 11 lakh crore on Friday after Group Chairman Mukesh Ambani declared the conglomerate to be net debt-free post recent investments in its digital arm, namely Jio Platforms.

Gold prices increased with rising concerns over a second wave of COVID-19 infections, as gold is considered a safe-haven asset. Further, Goldman Sachs announced that they expected the rally in bullion to continue due to currency debasement fears and economic uncertainty caused by the Coronavirus crisis. The bank raised its three, six and 12-month gold price estimates to US$ 1,800, US$ 1,900 and US$ 2,000 per ounce from US$ 1,600, US$ 1,650 and US$ 1,800 per ounce, respectively.

Oil prices rose significantly on receiving assurance from oil traders regarding recovery in demand, and from OPEC producers and allies regarding meeting their supply cut commitments.

Despite buying has been seen in the domestic equity market, the Indian rupee ended marginally lower at 76.19 per dollar.

Sensex winners comprised Bajaj Finance soaring by 6.74 per cent, RIL increasing by 6.23 per cent, Power Grid gaining by 4.23 per cent, ICICI Bank rising by 3.38 per cent, Maruti Suzuki rallying by 3.19 per cent, Axis Bank increasing by 2.86 per cent, SBI gaining by 2.64 per cent, etc. Sensex laggards consisted of IndusInd Bank dropping by 2.94 per cent, HCL Technologies declining by 1.63 per cent, ITC which fell by 1.37 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra decreasing by 1.35 per cent, HDFC dipping by 0.87 per cent, Infosys which fell by 0.71 per cent, etc.

Amongst BSE sectoral gainers, the highest gainer was BSE Realty index, up by 6.36 per cent followed by BSE Energy index which was up by 5.05 per cent. BSE IT index and BSE Consumer Durables declined by 0.40 per cent and 0.07 per cent respectively and were the only two indices on a negative note amongst all sectoral indices on BSE. BSE small-cap index rose by 1.37 per cent while BSE mid-cap index increased by 1.03 per cent.