Indian shares ended a percent higher on Thursday, led by metals, financials and auto stocks, while the government’s capital infusion in some state-run lenders boosted public sector banks.

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The Sensex ended 520 points higher at 50,030 while the Nifty rose 176 points to settle at 14,867.

The sentiment was also higher following gains in global peers after

US President Joe Biden outlined a broad plan to re-make the world’s biggest economy including spending on roads, railways, broadband, clean energy and semiconductor manufacture.

Back home, broader markets were also higher with the midcap and smallcap indices up 1.5-2 percent each.

On the Nifty50 index, JSW Steel, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, and IndusInd Bank were the top gainers while HUL, Nestle, HDFC Life, TCS and Divi's Labs led the losses.

Among sectors, the Nifty metal index jumped 5 percent while the auto, banking and fin services indices were up between 1 percent and 2 percent for the day. Meanwhile, Nifty Pharma and Nifty IT rose 0.7 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

The Nifty PSU Bank index also rose over 2.5 percent after the government infused a total of Rs 14,500 crore ($1.98 billion) in four state-run banks including Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India and UCO Bank.

Shares of Indian Overseas Bank and Central Bank jumped around 5 percent while Bank of India and UCO Bank gained more than 3 percent each.

Shares of JSW Steel jumped 8 percent after the company announced the commencement of production at Dolvi Works facility. The sentiment was also lifted after credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service upgraded the outlook on the company's ratings to stable from negative, led by a strong recovery in operating performance.

(Edited by : Pranati Deva)

First Published:Apr 1, 2021 3:35 PM IST