Sensex climbs 508 points, banking stocks surge

Equity benchmark indices remained bullish despite trimming some early gains on April 26 following some reports that India's second wave of coronavirus will peak soon.

The BSE SandP Sensex closed 508 points or 1.06 per cent higher at 48,387 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 144 points or 1 per cent to 14,485.

Except for Nifty pharma which dipped by 0.8 per cent, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in green zone with Nifty realty advancing by 3.4 per cent, PSU bank and private bank by 1.7 per cent each, financial service by 1.3 per cent and metal by 2 per cent.

Among stocks, Axis Bank moved up by 4.2 per cent to Rs 699.50 per share while ICICI Bank rose by 3.3 per cent and State Bank of India by 2.5 per cent.