Opening bell: Sensex nears 50,000 mark as budget day rally continues

Equity benchmark indices jumped by nearly 3 per cent during early hours on Tuesday as investors continued their positive reaction to the Union Budget amid strong global cues.

At 10:15 am, the BSE SandP Sensex was up by 1,312 points or 2.7 per cent at 49,912 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 390 points or 2.73 per cent to 14,671.

All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive terrain with Nifty financial service gaining by 3.7 per cent, private bank by 3.5 per cent, PSU bank by 3.2 per cent and auto by 3.1 per cent.

Among stocks, Tata Motors accelerated by 9.2 per cent to Rs 305.50 per share while infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro too gained by 9 per cent to Rs 1,559.10.HDFC Bank moved up by 5.8 per cent, Axis Bank by 4.2 per cent and State Bank of India by 4 per cent.

The other major gainers were housing finance major HDFC, Bajaj Finance, UPL, Grasim and Mahindra and Mahindra.

However, those which lost were Hero MotoCorp, HDFC Life, Hindustan Lever and Dr Reddy's.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets extended gains on increased optimism about stimulus packages and global economic recovery.