Sensex up 1,553 points by 10 am as BSE market value crosses ₹500 lakh crore

The rally on Dalal Street gathered pace in the first hour of trade on Thursday. By 10 am the Sensex was up 1,552.83 points, or 2.01%, at 78,854.23, and the Nifty 50 had gained 427.80 points, or 1.79%, to 24,388.40.

The Sensex opened 1,329 points higher at 78,630 and kept climbing, on course for a sixth straight day of gains. Buying came from almost every corner. Every Sensex stock except Bharti Airtel traded higher in the opening minutes, with Maruti, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance and M&M up 3 to 4%. Airtel slipped slightly ahead of its September-quarter results, due later on Thursday.

₹500 lakh crore and counting

The broad buying lifted the total value of companies listed on the BSE past ₹500 lakh crore. It stood at ₹500.82 lakh crore shortly before 10 am, up about ₹6.4 lakh crore from ₹494.42 lakh crore at Wednesday’s close.

Bank Nifty rose 1.71% to 56,867.80. Cement, financial services and realty stocks led the sector gains, while pharma and healthcare were the only sectors in the red. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices rose more than 1% each.

Results move single stocks

Quarterly numbers drove some of the biggest single moves. Lenskart Solutions jumped 10.6% to ₹762.75, a 52-week high, after its consolidated net profit for the July to September quarter rose 122.1% to ₹227.1 crore. Nykaa’s parent FSN E-Commerce went the other way, falling 3.3% to ₹343.70 even though its quarterly profit tripled to ₹101 crore.

The mood was set overnight on Wall Street, where the Dow rose 3.03% after the Democrats’ win in the US midterm elections raised hopes of a quicker end to the West Asia conflict and pushed crude lower. Titan and Bharti Airtel are among the stocks traders are watching through the day.