Sensex rallies 424 pts on RBI announcements; financial stocks shine

Jammu, May 5: Market benchmark Sensex rallied 424 points on Wednesday, led by gains in financial stocks after the RBI unveiled a slew of measures to support the economy facing strong headwinds amid peaking second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 30-share BSE index jumped 424.04 points or 0.88 per cent to close at 48,677.55. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty surged 121.35 points or 0.84 per cent to 14,617.85.

Sun Pharma was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, soaring around 6 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's, Titan and TCS. On the other hand, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints and HUL were the laggards.

"Domestic equities rebounded mainly supported by financials, IT and pharma. Notably, announcement of liquidity supports by the RBI's Governor to tackle the challenges coming from second wave of COVID-19 crisis aided financials to rebound," said Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities.

Earlier in the day, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das announced a slew of support measures to help cushion the economic blow of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

RBI has allowed certain individual and small borrowers more time to repay debt and allowed banks to give priority loans to vaccine makers, hospitals and COVID-related health infrastructure.

Barring FMCG, most key sectoral indices traded in green.

While elevated COVID-19 cases in several states and rising number of deaths are matters of concern, visible modest decline in new cases in many states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat offers comfort, he said.