Sensex and Nifty ended higher on Tuesday amid positive global equities as hopes of COVID-19 vaccine and economic stilmulus kept investors upbeat. Extending gains for the fifth straight session, Sensex ended 511 points higher at 37,930 and Nifty closed 140 points to 11,162. Yesterday, Sensex rose 398 points to 37,418 and Nifty ended 120 points higher to 11,022.
Sectorally, barring FMCG and pharma, all the indices ended in the green territory with over 2% gains registered in banking and PSU indices.
ICICI Bank, followed by Maruti, Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, Power Grid and HDFC Bank were among the top gainers today, while Bajaj Finserv and ITC were the top laggards.
First successful human trials of COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and hopes of economic stimulus from global central banks boosted global investor sentiment and increased their risk appetite.
Domestic equity markets also carried forward the bullish trend after news that AIIMS-Delhi began recruiting volunteers for conducting human clinical trials of the indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin.
Meanwhile, CRISIL, DCM Shriram, SBI Life and SML Isuzu are among the top companies that will report their April-June quarterly earnings. Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Life Insurance, ICICI Prudential reported their quarterly earnings during today's session.
Global equities rallied over reports that European Union leaders were close to reaching an agreement on a massive stimulus plan of 750 billion euro for their economies. Meanwhile, the US is expected to adopt its $1 to $1.5 trillion stimulus by the first week of August. Hopes for a coronavirus vaccine further lifted risk appetite.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 1.5% to edge near its four-month peak hit earlier this month. On Wall Street, benchmark S&P500 hit a five-month peak. Euro Stoxx 50 futures were also trading 0.25% higher, nearing their highest since early March.
On the currency front, Indian rupee, the domestic currency benchmark ended stronger at 74.75 per dollar on Tuesday, as against the earlier close of 75.921 per dollar.
Worldwide, the number of COVID-19 cases linked to COVID-19 disease surpassed 1.46 crore.
In India, the number of coronavirus infections jumped to 11.55 lakh, after recording 37,148 new cases in the last 24 hours, while the total number of recoveries increased to 7,24,577.