Market Wrap, Feb 2: Here's all that happened in the markets today

Investor wealth continued to soar at the bourses as a growth-driven Budget to fire the pandemic-hit economy impressed investors and analysts alike. Market-cap of all the BSE listed firms neared Rs 197-trillion mark as benchmark indices soared 2.5 per cent at the bourses.

Among the headline indices, the S&P BSE Sensex zoomed 1,197 points, or 2.46 per cent, to settle the day at a fresh record closing peak of 49,798 levels. The index reclaimed the 50,000 level in intra-day deals and hit a high of 50,154 earlier today. Now, if analysts at Morgan Stanley are to be believed, the index is on course to hit the 55,000 mark by December 2021 – an upside of around 10 per cent from the current levels.

According to Morgan Stanley, very gradual fiscal consolidation glide path with looser-than-expected fiscal policy; good quality spending mix and reasonable assumption on fiscal math; and focus on privatisation, asset monetisation and long-term funding for infrastructure investments are the three key themes from the Budget 2021 that will help the index achieve the feat.

The broader Nifty50, meanwhile, topped the 14,600-mark today and closed at new closing peak of 14,648 levels, up 367 points or 2.57 per cent.

UltraTech Cement, SBI, HDFC Bank, and L&T surged between 5 per cent and 7 per cent on the BSE and remained the top gainers on the Sensex index. Meanwhile, Shree Cement, Tata Motors, and Hindalco, advanced between 6 per cent and 15 per cent, and were the top gainers on the Nifty50.

The broader markets too rallied today but once again, underperformed their benchmark peers. The S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices ended 2.26 per cent and 1.56 per cent higher, respectively.

The Nifty sectoral indices were painted green, with Nifty Auto and the Nifty Realty indices, up 4 per cent each. Meanwhile, the Nifty Bank index surged over 1,179 points to end at a fresh closing high of 34,268. The index hit a lifetime high of 34,652 in the intra-day trade today.

Coming to individual stocks, Indigo Paints made a solid debut at the bourses on Tuesday, listing at Rs 2,607 apiece, a 75 per cent premium against the issue price of Rs 1,490 on the National Stock Exchange and BSE. The stock settled Rs 3,119 on the BSE, up 109 per cent against the issue price.

That apart, shares of Tata Motors rallied 17.6 per cent to Rs 329 on the NSE in Tuesday's intra-day trade after the company retained positive momentum and reported a 15 per cent month-on-month and 94 per cent year-on-year growth in domestic passenger vehicles sales during the month January 2021. The stock ended 17% higher today.

Moreover, shares of capital goods companies were on a roll on Tuesday, with the S&P BSE Capital Goods index surging 4 per cent in intra-day deals to hit an all-time high after the government's strong capital expenditure (capex) push in the Budget 2021. Individually, Larsen & Toubro, Havells India, Bharat Heavy Electricals, Kalpataru Power Transmission, Thermax, Finolex Cables, ABB and Siemens surged in the range of 3 per cent to 8 per cent in the intra-day trade.

Shares of Reliance Industries ended 1.6% higher while that of Future Enterprises jumped 5% after the latter rejected Delhi HC's proposal for entering into talks with Amazon for amicable resolution.

On the earnings front, mortgage lender HDFC on Tuesday reported a 65 per cent year-on-year decline in standalone net profit to Rs 2,925.83 crore for the quarter ended December 2020. Its consolidated net profit, however, came in at Rs 5,177 crore, clocking an improvement of 35 per cent YoY.

Meanwhile, Escorts reported an 83.4% YoY jump in net profit at Rs 281 crore for Q3FY21, along with a 23.5% YoY increase in revenue at Rs 2,017.4 crore.

Global stock markets gained for a second day on Tuesday, spurred by increased optimism about economic stimulus and global recovery, while retail investors retreated from GameStop and their new-found interest in silver.

Positive momentum from Asia carried through to Europe, with the pan-European STOXX 600 edging up 0.9 per cent.

MSCI's world equity index was 0.4 per cent firmer, while MSCI's gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan rose 1.5 per cent.

China's benchmark CSI300 Index climbed 1.5 per cent and Japan's Nikkei 225 added 1 per cent.