Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty rallied nearly 9 per cent in Tuesday’s trade, following positive global cues and hope of some easing in the 21-day nationwide lockdown next week. However, market experts believe the rally is unlikely to sustain as uncertainty over the Coronavirus crisis continues across the globe. BSE Sensex surged 2,476 points to 30,067, while Nifty50 gained 702 points to 8,785. “Hopes of some easing of the lockdown from next week, firm global cues coupled with a likely change in foreign institutional investors’ investment strategy lifted market sentiment.

However, it is very unlikely that the pullback will sustain as the Coronavirus crisis still not under control,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services. Investor wealth increased by Rs 8 lakh crore as market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms increased to around Rs 116 lakh crore from Rs 108 lakh crore on April 3.

Markets were closed on Monday on account of Mahavir Jayanti. Sanjeev Hota, Head of Research, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas seconded Nair.

“Today’s recovery was led by firm global cues.

However, the rally may not sustain as fear of Covid-19 is still not away.

I believe market will continue to remain volatile till the time some sense of stability comes in terms of coronavirus cases,” he said. All the 30 components of BSE Sensex settled in the green with IndusInd Bank rallying the most at 25 per cent.

It was followed by Axis Bank (up 20 per cent), Hindustan Unilever (up 14 per cent), Mahindra - Mahindra (up 14 per cent) and ICICI Bank (up 13 per cent). Robust buying in financial, energy and auto packs supported the rally.

The BSE Bankex, Energy, Auto and Telecom indices gained over 9 per cent each. Abhimanyu Sofat, Head of Research, IIFL Securities, said the rally was driven by positive news on the slowing rates of Corona infections in New York and Spain.

“The flattening of the curve would help a risk-on trade.

However, one would need some additional positive news on the domestic front with regards to Corona for Nifty to go above the 9,000 level.” Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong stocks settled over 2 per cent higher, in line with gains in mainland China on Beijing's latest economic stimulus and a drop in Coronavirus cases. MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was also up by over 2 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei rose 2.01 per cent.