Sensex rallies 1,500 points, breaches 60,000-mark led by HDFC twins

The benchmark equity indices rallied over 2.5 per cent in the morning trade on Monday as the merger announcement of HDFC Ltd and HDFC Bank buoyed the market sentiment.

The S&P BSE Sensex surged 1,568.41 points (2.65 per cent) to hit an intraday high of 60,845.10 while the Nifty 50 rallied 444.20 points (2.51 per cent) to touch 18,114.65.

Both the indices had opened around 1 per cent higher earlier in the day triggered by a sharp rally in HDFC twins – Housing Development Finance Corporation and HDFC Bank.

On the Sensex pack, gains were led by HDFC twins, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro and Hindustan Unilever. On the other hand, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries were trading a tad lower.

HDFC Bank shares were trading at Rs 1712.45, a gain of 13.69 per cent in the opening session. HDFC Ltd was quoting at Rs 2,818.55 with a gain of 15 per cent. The HDFC-HDFC Bank merger announcement boosted the investor sentiment with investors stepping up purchases, said an analyst.