The Nifty 50 settled just below the 10,800 mark. It rose 36 points or 0.33 per cent to close at 10,799.65 points against the previous close of 10,763.65.

 

Healthy buying in financial, banking and IT stocks lifted the indices. The SP BSE IT Index rose by 2.10 per cent while the Banking and Finance indices settled 1.90 per cent and 1.73 per cent higher.

 

The BSE Sensex closed at 36,674.52, higher by 187.24 points or 0.51 per cent from the previous close of 36,487.28.

 

It had opened at 36,660.35 and recorded an intra-day high of 36,723.27 and a low of 36,271.09 points.

 

Investment by foreign portfolio investors (FPI) was a major boost for the Indian indices. Net purchase by FPIs during the day stood at Rs 829.90 crore

 

Domestic institutional investors (DII), however, were net sellers and the net value of the stocks sold by DIIs was Rs 784.47 crore.

 

Rahul Sharma, Market Strategist & Research Head, Equity99 Advisors, said: "Strong buying interest in financial stocks led today's market rally as traders have now started realising that the concern of moratorium was over-hyped. Apart from financial stocks, select private sector banks, metals and auto stocks witnessed a sharp rise in buying interest by FPI today."

 

He noted that the overall mood of the markets remains positive led by hopes of a Covid-19 vaccine, improving macroeconomic conditions and improvement in manufacturing activities and car sales, indicating early signs of normalcy.

 

Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said that although the global markets took a pause on Tuesday, domestic investors shrugged off weak global cues and focused on positive factors like foreign fund inflows and hopes of a good monsoon.

 

"But the gains were capped as rising Covid-19 cases and higher valuations weighed on investor sentiment," he said.