MUMBAI: The Indian stock market’s benchmark Sensex surged by over 1,000 points on Friday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked the policy repo rate by 50 basis points, which was largely expected by the markets.
The 30-stock S&P BSE Sensex surged 1,016.96 points to 57,426.92 points against its previous day’s close at 56,409.96 points. The Sensex started the day in the red at 56,240.15 points and slumped to a low of 56,147.23 points in the early morning trade.
The markets witnessed a strong rally after the monetary policy announcement by the RBI. The Sensex surged to a high of 57,722.63 points in the intra-day. It has closed in the positive for the first time in the past eight trading sessions.
The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange surged 276.25 points to 17,094.35 points. It started the day in the red at 16,798.05 points and slumped to a low of 16,747.70 points in the morning trade. The Nifty surged to a high of 17,187.10 points in the intra-day.
There was broad-based buying support. Only five of the 30 stocks that are part of the benchmark Sensex closed in the red. Bharti Airtel surged 4.49 per cent to Rs 799.75, IndusInd Bank soared 3.78 per cent to Rs 1,186.30, the
index heavyweight Reliance Industries Ltd surged 2.25 per cent to close at Rs 2,377.70 and Tata Steel surged 2.53 per cent to Rs 99.30.
Banking and financial stocks also soared. HDFC Bank surged 2.93 per cent to Rs 1,422.40, Kotak Bank jumped 3.22 per cent to Rs 1,821.25, ICICI Bank soared 2.22 per cent to Rs 862.80 and. State Bank of India closed 1.74 per cent higher at Rs 531.05.
Asian Paints slumped 1.26 per cent to Rs 3,342.15. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, ITC, Tech Mahindra and Hindustan Unilever were the other Sensex losers. (ANI)