Mumbai [India]: Broad-based buying support continued in the Indian equities markets for the second successive day on Wednesday with benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty 50 surging close to two per cent sidestepping Omicron worries. The 30-stock S&P BSE Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange opened at a bullish note at 58,158.56 points and surged to a high of 58,702.65 points in the intra-day trade. The benchmark Sensex closed at 58,649.68 points, 1.76 per cent or 1016.03 points higher than its previous day close of 57,633.65 points. This is the second consecutive day of the rally in the Indian equities markets. The Sensex had surged 886 points on Tuesday. The markets have risen sharply sidestepping Omicron’s worries. The benchmark Sensex had slumped 1,715 points or 2.9 per cent in two sessions preceding December 7. In the last two days, the index has more than recovered the loss. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) dovish tone on policy rates gave strong support to the equities markets. In the bi-monthly policy review on Wednesday, the RBI decided to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent. The central bank also maintained the status quo on other policy rates. The reverse repo rate is kept unchanged at 3.35 per cent. Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate is also kept unchanged at 4.25 per cent. Buying was broad-based. Only two of the 30 Sensex scrips closed in the red. There was strong buying support in auto, metal, banking and financial stocks. Bajaj Finance soared 3.67 per cent to Rs.7363.45. Maruti Suzuki India, State Bank of India and Bajaj Finserv also jumped more than three per cent. Asian Paints, which was the only Sensex scrip to close in the red on Tuesday, soared 2.57 per cent to Rs.3109.20. The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) jumped 293.05 points or 1.71 per cent to 17,469.75 points. The Nifty 50 had gained 1.56 per cent or 264.45 points on Tuesday.
