Market

Closing Bell: Markets end higher for third straight session; Sensex up 5%, Nifty above 8,650

Updated : March 26, 2020 03:37 PM IST

The Sensex ended 1,411 points higher at 29,947, while the Nifty rose 336 points to settle at 8,653.

Indian shares rose for the third straight session on Thursday as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a domestic stimulus to fight the impact of the coronavirus. The sentiment was also upbeat after the US announced a $2 trillion stimulus package to fight the deadly virus.

The Sensex ended 1,411 points higher at 29,947, while the Nifty rose 336 points to settle at 8,653.

The Finance Minister announced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore ($22.6 billion) economic stimulus plan that will be released through direct cash transfers and food security measures aimed at giving relief to millions of poor hit by the nationwide lockdown in the country.

“We have come with a package which will immediately take care of the welfare concerns of the poor and suffering workers and those who need immediate help,” said Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, at a press briefing.

The moves come two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a 21-day nationwide lockdown to try to protect India’s 1.3 billion people from the fast-spreading coronavirus.

The finance minister had already announced some measures on Tuesday that included an extension of tax deadlines, easing minimum balance norms for the savings account, and increasing threshold of insolvency filing, among others.

The gains in the benchmarks were led by FMCG and financials. IndusInd Bank, L&T, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, and Hero MotoCorp were the top gainers on the Nifty50 index, while HCL Tech, GAIL, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, and Tech Mahindra led the losses.

Among sectors, Nifty Realty surged 7.3 percent followed by Nifty Bank, up 6.4 percent. Nifty Fin Services was also uo 5.7 percent, whereas Nifty FMCG added 4.9 percent for the day. Meanwhile Nifty IT and Nifty Auto advanced around 2 percent each.