Trading on BSE & NSE continue till 5 pm; Sensex & Nifty soar high, Axis Bank jumps 5 per cent, SBI gains 3 per cent
On Wednesday, even as the domestic markets remained volatile, the benchmark indices surged. Sensex closed up by 1,030.28 points or by 2.07 per cent at 50,781.69 levels while Nifty gained 279.95 points or by 1.90 per cent to settle at 14,987.75 levels.
Post a technical glitch on NSE, trading halted on BSE & NSE for almost 4 hours today i.e. from 11.45 am to 3.45 pm. Consequently, the trading session was extended till 5 pm.
Since a day before Thursday's F&O expiry is considered to be a crucial day for expiry-related trades, an error or glitch in the update of index feed resulted in slowed-down FNO trades that takes a reference of such benchmark indices.
On Wednesday, India VIX, the volatility index also calmed down after Monday's sharp falls.
In the extended session, indices witnessed sharp gains, especially with a surge in banking and financial stocks, owing to the government's tweet.
Asian indices such as Shanghai Composite index, Hang Seng, Nikkei, and KOSPI declined by 1.99 per cent, 2.99 per cent, 1.61 per cent, and 2.45 per cent, respectively. Asian indices suffered after mixed US' previous trading session and decline in tech stocks as investors rushed to book profits. Chinese shares dropped on Wednesday as investors engaged in selling consumer & healthcare stocks due to concerns over policy tightening continued to weigh on sectors. The shares in Hong Kong declined over media reports stating that the government will increase stamp duty to 0.13 per cent from 0.1 per cent for stock trading.
European indices such as FTSE 100 and DAX were trading higher by 0.11 per cent and 0.58 per cent, respectively while CAC 40 traded flat.
Sensex gainers included Axis Bank that jumped 5.23 per cent, HDFC Bank surged 5.12 per cent, ICICI Bank inched higher by 4.10 per cent, Bajaj Finance rose by 3.15 per cent, HDFC gained 3.06 per cent, SBI increased by 2.65 per cent, Larsen & Toubro went up by 2.59 per cent, UltraTech Cement rose by 2.22 per cent.
Sensex losers were made up of Power Grid that plunged 1.31 per cent, Dr Reddy's Laboratories fell by 1.06 per cent, TCS declined by 0.96 per cent, Maruti Suzuki went down by 0.41 per cent, NTPC inched lower by 0.39 per cent, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries decreased by 0.25 per cent, etc.
Amongst sectoral indices on BSE, the Bankex was the biggest gainer, up by 3.70 per cent while Utilities index was the biggest loser, down by 0.13 per cent. In the broader markets, BSE Small-Cap and BSE Mid-Cap index gained 1.08 per cent and 0.77 per cent, respectively.