IT, auto stocks push Sensex over 500 points

Equity benchmark indices rebounded on Thursday, with Nifty hitting its fresh all-time high and Sensex surging more than 500 points as investors went on a buying spree in IT, automobile and technology stocks.

After starting off on a volatile note, the equity market staged a recovery in the second half of the day, especially after 2.30 pm as the 30-share benchmark Sensex soared 535.15 points or 0.74 per cent to close at 73,158.24 points.

As many as 22 Sensex constituents closed in the positive territory and the index touched an intra-day high of 73,256.39 points.

The broader Nifty climbed 162.40 points or 0.74 per cent to hit its highest ever closing level of 22,217.45 points.

During the intra-day trade, the index touched the peak of 22,252.50 points and 25 Nifty constituents ended the session with gains.

"The domestic market staged a recovery from the day's low, buoyed by positive PMI data from the Eurozone and an impressive earnings report from US tech stocks.

"The broader market showed resilience as India's economic activity continued to expand in February, with both service and manufacturing PMI improving.

"Consequently, it resulted in outperformance in discretionary stocks and capital goods," Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

BSE Midcap index gained 0.92 per cent, largecap index climbed 0.81 per cent and smallcap index rose 0.54 per cent.

In the Sensex pack, HCLTech rose the maximum by 3.12 per cent, followed by ITC which gained 2.73 per cent and M&M went up 2.61 per cent.

TCS climbed 2.44 per cent.

Tech Mahindra, Wipro, L&T and Maruti were among the other major gainers.

However, stocks of all major banks closed in the red with IndusInd Bank falling1.87 per cent.

While HDFC Bank dropped 1.28 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank declined 1.11 per cent and SBI slipped 0.73 per cent.

Among other scrips, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Finance ended the day in the negative territory.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 surged more than 2 per cent to all-time high to hit its 1989 level.

Hang Seng of Hong Kong and China's Shanghai Composite also ended with sharp gains.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Wednesday as they purchased securities worth Rs 284.66 crore.