Nifty hits 2-month high as Covid-19 cases stay below 3L

Benchmark index Nifty 50 climbed on Tuesday to hit its highest in more than two months, powered by gains in financial and metal stocks, as the daily rise in coronavirus cases stayed below the 3-lakh mark for a second straight day.

The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 1.02 per cent to 15,075.45 by 10.20 am, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex advanced 0.97 per cent to 50,061.37. On Monday, they had climbed 1.7 per cent each.

Daily Covid-19 cases in India, the world's second-worst pandemic-hit country after the US, rose by 2.63 lakh, remaining below the 3-lakh mark first seen on Monday after April 21. However, deaths rose by a record 4,329.

"Positive trigger for market now is steadily declining fresh Covid cases," V.K. Vijaykumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said in a note.

Gains were seen across the board with forty-six stocks of the Nifty 50 trading in positive territory.

Private sector lender HDFC Bank rose as much as 2.34 per cent to its highest in nearly three weeks, while ICICI Bank jumped 1.9 per cent to its highest since March 12.

Boosting investor sentiment further was a rise in commodity prices. Copper and iron ore futures rose, pushing the Nifty metal index 2.56 per cent higher. Hindustan Copper led gains on the sub-index with a near 9 per cent surge.

A heady rally in metal stocks paused last week as commodity prices pulled back from record prices. The Nifty metal index is up more than 10 per cent this month despite the pause last week, after surging 21.9 per cent in April.

Drug maker Gland Pharma rose 9.66 per cent to hit a record high after reporting March-quarter results on Monday, while Tata Motors was up 2.4 per cent ahead of its quarterly results.

Among losers, Bharti Airtel fell 1.56 per cent after reporting quarterly results on Monday.

Meanwhile, Asian shares also rose, shrugging off worries about an increase in regional coronavirus infections.