By Aditya Raghunath
Investing.com -- Nifty and BSE Sensex made major gains for the third day in a row, riding on Budget euphoria, to close 0.97% and 0.92% higher, respectively. Sensex has closed over 50,000 while Nifty is just 11 points away from 14,800. Pharma, infrastructure and bank stocks are gaining as investors are focussing on sectors that will benefit from the Budget announcements.
IndusInd Bank (NS:INBK) gained 7.29% followed by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (NS:PGRD) at 5.97%. Divi's Laboratories Ltd. (NS:DIVI) and Coal India (NS:COAL), both gained over 4% each. Shree Cements Ltd. (NS:SHCM) ended lower by 1.64% while UPL (NS:UPLL) lost 1.51%. UltraTech Cement (NS:ULTC) lost 0.99% and Maruti (NS:MRTI) was down 0.91% at the end of the trading day.
Bank Nifty is on a power surge and is less than 250 points away from crossing the 35,000 mark.
PNB (NS:PNBK) followed IndusInd Bank Ltd. (NS:INBK) with a 6.49% gain while RBL Bank Ltd (NS:RATB) gained 5.53% at day’s close. Kotak Mahindra (NS:KTKM) Bank Ltd. (BO:KTKM) (down 0.39%) and IDFC (NS:IDFC) First Bank (down 0.1%) were the only losers on Bank Nifty today.
European markets have opened positive as well. FTSE is up 0.33% while CAC is up 0.34% and Dax is up 0.62%. US futures are trading slightly higher with Dow Jones 30 Futures up 0.16%, S&P 500 Futures up 0.39% and Nasdaq 100 Futures up 0.69%. Crude oil is holding its ground over $55.