Led by the healthy buying in index heavyweights Reliance Industries and banking and financial counters, domestic benchmark indices edged higher for the second day in a row. Analysts believe stocks are up in anticipation of good quarterly earnings and improved outlook due to a hike in stock prices and demand.
Concerns on the Covid front still lingered in the backdrop. Meanwhile, investor focus will shift to the US Fed's policy meet outcome slated for tomorrow.
The BSE Sensex settled close to day's high at 558, up 48,944 points amid across the board buying. It had touched an intra-day high of 49,009. Meanwhile, NSE's Nifty50 shut shop 168 points higher at 14,653.
With April derivative expiry approaching, and with Nifty option premiums not pricing much above 14700 for now, caution is recommended, said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
L&T was the best performer in the 30-pack Sensex as it gained 3.53%. It was trailed by Bajaj Finance, SBI, IndusInd Bank, RIL and HDFC Bank that gained between 2-3%.
On the downside, Maruti Suzuki emerged as the worst performer, down 1.28%, after the automaker's March quarter numbers disappointed investors. The company reported a standalone net profit of Rs 1,166.1 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 (Q4FY21). It was down 9.72 per cent from the previous year’s profit of Rs 1,291.7 crore.
The numbers missed Street estimates by a huge margin as analysts had projected the PAT to grow anywhere between 37 per cent and 51 per cent YoY.
Other Sensex losers were - NTPC, Nestle India, Kotak Bank and DRL.
On the sectoral front, all indices ended in the green on NSE with Nifty Metals in the lead, up 2.7%, followed by Nifty PSU Bank index which added 2.3%. Nifty Pharma clocked the least gains among all at 0.7%.
Broader markets, meanwhile, outperformed the benchmark with Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap indices rallying 1.57% and 1.74%, respectively.
Among stock-specific action:
Shares of Jindal Steel & Power scaled a fresh 52-week high of Rs 455.95 on the BSE after the company board approved divesting entire equity interest in subsidiary Jindal Power to Worldone, a promoter group company, for Rs 3,015 crore. The scrip settled the day at Rs 450.35, up 1.82%.
Castrol India surged as much as 7% in intra-day trade after the firm reported a near doubling of net income for the quarter to March at Rs 243.6 crore as against Rs 125.2 crore a year ago, driven by robust revenue growth. The stock finally settled the day only 1.8% higher at Rs 127.50.
Shares of State Bank of India climbed 2.82% after the firm said the company board will meet on April 28 to mull raising up to $2 billion.
Shares of Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance and Britannia closed in the green ahead of their March quarter results later today.
In other news, the US Chamber of Commerce warned that the Indian economy could falter as a result of a record spike in coronavirus cases, creating a drag for the global economy. Myron Brilliant, executive vice president of the Chamber said the risk of spillover effects was high given that many US companies employ millions of Indian workers to run their back-office operations.
"We expect that this could get worse before it gets better," Brilliant told Reuters, citing a "real risk" the Indian economy would falter.
Lastly, an update on the global markets.
Shares dipped from record highs on Tuesday as optimism about the economic recovery was dented by caution ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy decision and a raft of earning updates.
The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 countries, fell 0.1%, following a muted session in Asia and slight early losses in Europe.
S&P 500 futures rose almost 0.1% indicating a firm start for Wall Street.
 "Market Wrap, April 27: Here's all that happened in the markets today")
