Sensex climbs 617 points & Nifty settles at 15,116

Benchmark domestic stocks on Monday, February 8, 2021, surged more than one per cent to hit fresh record highs. The Sensex and Nifty climbed for the sixth straight session amid positive global market cues. The Sensex gained to trade above 51,300 mark while the Nifty climbed to trade above 15,100 level.

The Sensex was trading 617.14 points, or 1.22 per cent, up at 51,348.77. The NSE Nifty also gained 191.55 points, or 1.28 per cent, to trade at 15,115.80. Both the indices attained record closing high levels. The indices have surged about 10.9 per cent in six consecutive sessions. The Sensex hit a record high of 51,523.38 and the Nifty hit a record high of 15,159.90 in afternoon trade.

The Nifty Bank grew 329.15 points, or 0.92 per cent, to close higher at 35.983.65. The broader market at BSE also gained out-performing the Sensex. The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 1.5 per cent and the BSE Small-Cap index appreciated 1.53 per cent.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1,721 shares rose and 1,313 shares fell. On Nifty 50 index, 40 shares advanced and 10 declined. The top five gainers on Nifty 50 were Mahindra & Mahindra (up 7.39 per cent), Tata Motors (up 6.54 per cent), Hindalco (up 6.12 per cent), Shree Cement (up 4.62 per cent) and JSW Steel (up 3.39 per cent). The top five stocks that declined were Britannia (down 1.83 per cent), Hindustan Unilever (down 1.43 per cent), Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 1.38 per cent), DIVIS Laboratories (down 1.03 per cent) and Bajaj Finance (down 0.77 per cent).

COVID-19

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 10,61,61,687 with 23,17,211 deaths. India reported 1,48,609 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 1,55,080 deaths while 1,05,34,505 patients have been discharged, data showed.

Hong Kong's economy

Hong Kong's economy shrank by a record in 2020, with the global pandemic dragging down output in a city already reeling from massive political upheaval. GDP fell 3 per cent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, resulting in a full-year decline of 6.1 per cent, according to advance estimates from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department on Friday.

The median estimate in a survey of economists was for a 2.1 per cent contraction in the fourth quarter and 6% for the whole of 2020. Hong Kong has not posted back-to-back annual contractions in data going back to at least 1962. The biggest GDP contraction in that period was a 5.9 per cent decline in 1998, when the city's economy was affected by both the Asian Financial Crisis and handover to China.

Consumption and tourism-related sectors were particularly hard-hit by the pandemic last year while financial market activity "stayed robust," the government said in the report. Even before the virus hit, the city's economy was under stress following months of disruptive pro-democracy protests in 2019 that curbed spending and investment. Once the virus began spreading, travel bans brought tourism to a halt and social distancing restrictions further dented spending.

Glacier Burst in Uttarakhand

A glacier broke off at Joshimath in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Sunday, leading to a massive flood in the Dhauli Ganga River and causing large-scale devastation in the upper reaches of the ecologically fragile Himalayas. Homes along the way were swept away as the waters rushed down the mountainsides in a raging torrent.