Sensex, Nifty end with gains for second day; both above 2%

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) opened India’s biggest-ever rights issue on Wednesday to return to the public for raising funds after a gap of three decades.

Indian equity markets gained for the second straight day on Wednesday after the last hour surge took the benchmark indices to their highest point as Nifty settled at the 9000-level supported by pharma, auto and banking stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended 622.44 points or 2.06% higher at 30,818.61 and the NSE Nifty 50 index too closed up 187.45 points or 2.11% at 9066.55.

HDFC, M&M, LT and Tata Steel were among the gainers on the 30-share Sensex. In the red were Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp and Indus Bank.

All the sectoral indices ended higher on Nifty, with Nifty Pharma rising 4-10% followed by the auto, energy and bank. On Nifty, 42 out of the 50 constituents ended with gains.

Dr Reddy, HDFC, M&M, BPCL and GAIL were among the gainers on the Nifty, while losers were Bharti Infratel, IndusInd Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Vedanta and Bharti Airtel.

Before that, the BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 had gained nearly 2% in late afternoon trade. Sensex jumped 543 points or 1.80% to 30,739.34 and Nifty 50 reclaimed its crucial 9,000 level.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) opened India’s biggest-ever rights issue on Wednesday to return to the public for raising funds after a gap of three decades.

RIL’s Rs 53,125 crore rights issue will close on June 3 with the shares of the company being offered at Rs 1,257 per share, a 14.8% discount from the current market price.

Sensex had closed 167 points higher at 30,196 and Nifty ended 55 points higher at 8,879 on Tuesday.