Indian indices ended higher on Thursday led by gains in auto, metals and IT sectors even as investors remained cautious about the relentless rise in COVID-19 cases. The sentiment was lifted after RBI Governor, in a surprise media briefing, yesterday announced certain measures to tackle the pandemic.

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The Sensex ended 272 points higher at 48,950 while the Nifty rose 107 points to settle at 14,725. Broader markets were also in line with benchmarks with the midcap and smallcap indices up 0.9 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

"Amidst rising covid cases, hopes of recovery through vaccine drives and a positive global market is aiding the domestic market to ride a positive wave. Biden’s decision to waive intellectual property rights on vaccines pumped in global optimism. Metal stocks continued to outshine other sectors as it kick-started its earning season on a better-than-expected note. Auto and IT were the other sectoral leaders while mid and small-cap stocks mirrored the trend," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

On the Nifty50 index, Hindalco, Wipro, Hero Moto, Tata Motors and Tata Steel were the top gainers while Powergrid, UPL, Bajaj Finserv, Sun Pharma and NTPC led the losses.

Among sectors, the Nifty Metal index rose 2.5 percent led by Hindalco and JSPL up 5 percent and 5.5 percent. Meanwhile, Tata Steel also jumped 3 percent after beating quarterly profit estimates in Q4.

Meanwhile, Nifty IT and Nifty Auto also rose around 1.7 percent each. Two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp climbed over 4.5 percent ahead of its quarterly results, while rival Bajaj Auto rose 2.5 percent.

Coforge rallied 17 percent after the firm reported better than expected numbers for Q4.

Among other stocks, state-run lender IDBI Bank surged 6.5 percent after the government on Wednesday approved a stake sale.

(Edited by : Pranati Deva)

First Published:May 6, 2021 3:35 PM IST