Indian shares rose 6-7 percent on Wednesday, as US senators and Trump administration officials reached an agreement on a massive economic stimulus bill to cope with the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak.

Share Market Live

NSE

The Sensex ended 1,862 points higher at 28,536, while the Nifty50 also rose 517 points to settle at 8,318.

Broader Asia shares also advanced with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gaining 3.4 percent.

Back home, the sentiment was also positive after the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that the government would soon announce a fiscal package to help the economy face the hit from the virus outbreak. She also announced a slew of measures and postponed tax deadlines to help the citizens during this period.

On the Nifty50 index, Reliance, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, UPL, and Maruti were the top gainers, whereas IOC, IndusInd Bank, Coal India, Wipro and GAIL led the losses. Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap indices were also over 3 percent each.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi also announced a 21-day lockdown in India to help contain the virus. Despite the nation-wide shutdown, stock exchanges continue to function as usual. Indian markets have been battered in March as fears over the pandemic’s impact on an already slowing economy sent investors into a selling frenzy.

India so far has reported 562 cases of the virus and 10 deaths.

First Published:Mar 25, 2020 3:35 PM IST