Sensex surges 1,028 pts, oil & gas stocks rally

Tuesday,   31-Mar-2020   04:26 PM (IST)

A surprise expansion in China's manufacturing activity in March lifted investor sentiment on Tuesday, thus leading to around 4 per cent rally in the benchmark indices. China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 52 in March from a collapse to a record low of 35.7 in February. The S&P BSE Sensex gained 1,028 points or 3.62 per cent to settle at 29,468.49 on the last day of the financial year 2019-20 (FY20). Of 30 constituents, 26 advanced and 4 declined. FMCG major ITC (up around 8 per cent) emerged as the top gainer of the index. RIL (up around 8 per cent),  ONGC (up 7.64 per cent), and Tata Steel (up over 6 per cent) were the other major gainers. NSE's Nifty ended at 8,598, up 317 points or 3.82 per cent. Oil and gas stocks gained big during the day on sharp decline in the crude oil prices. The S&P BSE Oil & Gas index rallied around 9 per cent to 10,021 levels. BPCL, HPCL, and GAIL were up in the range of 15-8 per cent. FMCG and metal stocks too made decent advances. While the S&P BSE Metal index jumped over 5 per cent to 5,713 levels, the S&P BSE FMCG index added around 6 per cent to 10,255 levels. Among individual stocks, Nestle India rallied 5 per cent to Rs 16,425 in intra-day trade. The stock ended at Rs 16,289, up around 4 per cent. Hindustan Unilever (HUL) hit its fresh 52-week high of Rs 2,311.85 in the intra-day session before settling at 2,298, up over 5 per cent. On the other hand, IndusInd Bank tanked around 15 per cent to Rs 351 apiece on the BSE. Volatility index India VIX slipped over 10 per cent to 64.49 levels. In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap 100 index gained over 2 per cent to 11,704 and the Nifty SmallCap index rose over 3 per cent to 3,595 levels.