Sensex, Nifty surge nearly 2% on buying in financial, IT stocks

Benchmark Sensex rallied 1,436 points to close at a two-week high on Thursday on buying in financial, auto and IT shares.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex jumped 1,436.30 points or 1.83%, its best single-day gain in more than a month, to settle at 79,943.71. During the day, it soared 1,525.46 points or 1.94% to 80,032.87.

The NSE Nifty surged 445.75 points or 1.88% to 24,188.65.

From 30 Sensex shares, Bajaj Finserv jumped nearly 8% while Bajaj Finance soared over 6%. Maruti, Titan, Mahindra, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Tech, Zomato, UltraTech Cement and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the other major gainers.

Sun Pharma emerged as the only laggard.

The gross GST collection rose 7.3% year-on-year to ₹1.77 lakh crore in December despite a significant increase in both domestic and export refunds.

India's manufacturing sector growth fell to a 12-month low in December, as new business orders and production expanded at softer rates, a monthly survey said on Thursday.

The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index was at 56.4 in December, down from 56.5 in November, indicating a weaker improvement in operating conditions.

Despite the decline, the headline figure remained above its long-run average of 54.1 thereby signalling a robust rate of growth.

In PMI parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below 50 denotes contraction.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled lower.

European markets were trading mostly lower. US markets were closed on Wednesday for the New Year holiday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹1,782.71 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.09% to $75.47 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark climbed 368.40 points or 0.47% to settle at 78,507.41 on the first trading session of 2025 on Wednesday. The Nifty went up by 98.10 points or 0.41% to 23,742.90.