Sensex soars over 1,300 points in early session today

Mumbai: Extending its euphoria over government's economy-boosting measures, equity benchmark BSE Sensex soared over 1,300 points to reclaim the 39,000 mark in early session on Monday, driven by gains in index heavyweights HDFC Bank, ITC, L&T and ICICI Bank.

After hitting a high of 39,346.01 points, the 30-share index was trading 1,031.58 points, or 2.71 per cent, higher at 39,046.20 at 0930 hours, while the broader Nifty rallied 263.75 points, or 2.23 per cent, to 11,537.95.

In the previous session on Friday, the BSE barometer logged its biggest single-day jump in over a decade by surging 1,921.15 points or 5.32 per cent to 38,014.62, while the NSE Nifty zoomed 569.40 points or 5.32 per cent to end at 11,274.20.

Bulls took over Dalal Street after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered a surprise cut in corporate tax rates.

Announcing the latest set of measures to jump-start flagging growth, the Finance Minister slashed the base corporate tax for existing companies to 22 per cent from 30 per cent; and for new manufacturing firms, incorporated after October 1, 2019, to 15 per cent from 25 per cent.

Market continued to rally on Monday as sentiment investor remained euphoric in opening session, traders said.

According to Shibani Kurian, Senior Vice President and Head of Equity Research, Kotak Mahindra AMC, corporate tax rate cut is a huge step in boosting the overall profitability of corporate



India.

"This step along with some of the other measures announced including that the enhanced tax surcharge introduced in July 2019 shall not apply to capital gains on sale of equity share which is subject to securities transactions tax would go a big way in restoring confidence in the Indian equity markets," she said.

One the biggest problems ailing the investment rate was low corporate savings and, to the extent, this tax cut boosts corporate savings, this is positive structurally for the improvement in private sector investment rate, she added.

Top gainers in the Sensex pack in early trade included ITC, Asian Paints, IndusInd Bank, L&T, HUL, Maruti, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank, rallying up to 8 per cent.

On the other hand, Infosys, TCS, TechM, HCL Tech, NTPC and PowerGrid tanked up to 8 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading on a negative note in their respective late morning sessions.

The rupee, meanwhile, traded flat against its previous close at 70.94 in early session.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 1.06 per cent to 64.96 per barrel (intra-day).

On Friday, foreign portfolio investor purchased shares worth a net of Rs 35.78 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 3,001.32 crore, provisional data showed.