Kitakyushu, City in Kyushu, Japan

Equity benchmark indices closed over two per cent higher on Wednesday as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman readied to unveil details of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package.A day earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the package amounting to 10 per cent of the GDP for alleviating the pain caused by COVID-19 pandemic. He also said the countrywide lockdown will extend post-May 17 with new rules to allow more industrial and business activities.The BSE S&P Sensex closed 637 points or 2.03 per cent higher at 32,009 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 187 points or 2.03 per cent at 9,384.Except for Nifty pharma and FMCG, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive zone with Nifty private bank up by 6.5 per cent, realty by 3.6 per cent, financial service by 3.3 per cent and auto by 2.3 per cent.Among stocks, private lenders gained the most with Axis Bank advancing by 7 per cent to Rs 413.95 per share and ICICI Bank by 4.8 per cent to Rs 336.80.Investors said the stimulus package will be a big positive for the financial sector as it will significantly cushion the impact of non-performing assets with sovereign guarantees.Larsen & Toubro was up by 6.3 per cent, Ad Ports by 6 per cent, UPL by 4.6 per cent and Bajaj Finance by 4.3 per cent.However, FMCG major Nestle India wound up the day with a loss of 5.1 per cent at Rs 16,565 per share, a day after it reported 13 per cent jump in the net profit for the quarter ended March at Rs 525 crore. Traders said Q2 CY20 trends are likely to be weaker due to lower manufacturing and supplies.The other prominent losers were Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Britannia and HCL Technologies.Meanwhile, Asian equities pulled back on heightened concerns of the second wave of coronavirus infections. Japan's Nikkei was down by 0.49 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng lowered by 0.27 per cent.( With inputs from ANI )

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Equity benchmark indices closed over two per cent higher on Wednesday as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman readied to unveil details of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package. ...

Equity benchmark indices closed over two per cent higher on Wednesday as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman readied to unveil details of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package. ...