Sensex rallies over 500 pts in early trade, Nifty tops 11,100

Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 500 points in early trade on Tuesday tracking heightened buying sentiment across the board amid strong cues from global markets as hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine boosted investor confidence.

After hitting a high of 37,923.38, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 462.77 points, or 1.24 per cent, higher at 37,881.76.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty rose 136.35 points, or 1.24 per cent, to 11,158.55.

ICICI Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying around 3 per cent, followed by Maruti, Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, Power Grid and HDFC Bank.

On the other hand, Bajaj Finserv and ITC were the laggards.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer ended at 37,418.99, up 398.85 points or 1.08 per cent, and the broader Nifty rose 120.50 points or 1.11 per cent to end at 11,022.20.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Monday, purchasing equities worth Rs 1,709.97 crore, provisional exchange data showed.

According to traders, domestic market participants tracked global stocks rally as hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine increased their risk appetite.

A coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford appears safe and induces a strong immune response within the body, scientists announced on Monday after the first phase of "promising" human trials against the deadly disease.

In India, AIIMS-Delhi also began recruiting volunteers for conducting human clinical trials of the indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading on a positive note.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street too ended with significant gains in overnight session.

The number of COVID-19 cases around the world linked to the disease has crossed 1.46 crore.

In India, the number of infections spiked to 11.55 lakh, according to the health ministry.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.18 per cent to USD 43.36 per barrel.