Sensex up 424 points as RBI unveils Covid relief measures

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 5 : Key equity indices traded in the green on Wednesday as RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das launched the second round of loan restructuring and other relief measures to counter the impact of Covid-19's second wave across the country.
At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 424 points or 0.88 per cent at 48,678 while the Nifty 50 advanced by 121 points or 0.84 per cent to 14,618,
Except for Nifty realty which cracked by 1 per cent, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the postive zone with Nifty pharma gaining by 4.1 per cent, private bank by 1.5 per cent, IT by 1.2 per cent and metal by 1 per cent.
Among stocks, Sun Pharma was up by 5.8 per cent to Rs 683 per share while Dr Reddy's moved higher by 2 per cent to Rs 5,169.
Private lenders Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank were up by 2.6 per cent, 2.5 per cent, 2.3 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.
However, Adani Ports lost by 3.6 per cent to close the day at Rs 741 per share. Hindustan Unilever, Nestle India, Bajaj Finance, SBI Life and Asian Paints too were in the negative zone.
Meanwhile, Asian shares risked falling for a fourth straight session as sentiment took a knock from a selloff in large cap Wall Street tech darlings.
Holidays in Japan, China and South Korea limited the early reaction, leaving MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan dithering either side of flat.
Japan's Nikkei was shut but futures traded down. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down by 0.49 per cent as consumer discretionary and tech shares weighed in.