Sensex extends gains on banking, finance boost; global markets firm on US election day

Sensex rallied 504 points while Nifty reclaimed 11,800-level on Tuesday, propped up by banking and finance counters, as global markets marched higher on US election day.

Encouraging Q2 results and foreign capital inflows added to buying momentum in domestic markets, traders said.

Rising for second straight session, 30-share BSE Sensex ended 503.55 points or 1.27 per cent higher at 40,261.13.

Similarly, broader NSE Nifty jumped 144.35 points or 1.24 per cent to 11,813.50.

ICICI Bank was top gainer in Sensex pack, soaring 6.51 per cent, followed by SBI, HDFC, PowerGrid, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, Titan, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank.

On or hand, NTPC, Reliance Industries, Nestle India, HCL Tech, Infosys and HUL were among laggards, shedding up to 3.75 per cent.

Global bourses followed Wall Street higher as investors wred on fresh US stimulus immediately after elections.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo ended with significant gains.

Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading on a positive te in early deals.

"Indian equities witnessed a sharp rally today mainly led by strong global cues, which was caused by expectations of large fiscal stimulus with national polls in US predicting Democratic sweep in presidential election."

"Additionally, positive ecomic data in domestic markets with regards of strong manufacturing PMI for Oct'20 and strong 2Q corporate earnings bolstered investors' confidence in domestic equities. Barring realty, all sectoral indices ended in green today, while Financials once again led broader market rally."

"Going forward, market is expected to be volatile due to likely ambiguity over election outcome in US and continued rise in COVID-19 cases in various European nations including US," said Arjun Yash Mahajan, Head Institutional Business at Reliance Securities.

Sector-wise, BSE bankex, finance, metal, auto, consumer durables and healthcare indices rallied as much as 3.21 per cent, while realty, energy, telecom, teck and oil and gas closed in red.

In broader markets, BSE midcap and smallcap indices spurted up to 0.42 per cent.

Foreign institutional investors emerged as net buyers in capital markets as y purchased shares worth Rs 740.61 crore on Monday, according to provisional exchange data.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 3.31 per cent higher at USD 40.26 per barrel.

In forex market, rupee settled almost flat at 74.41 against US dollar.