At 9:18 am, the BSE Sensex was up 279 points or 0.47 per cent at 59,364, whereas the Nifty 50 index advanced 70.30 points or 0.40 per cent at 17,675
The Indian equity benchmarks opened higher on Thursday led by Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, and Tata Steel, amid weak global cues. The BSE Sensex surged as much as 70 points, and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high above the 17,600 mark.
At 9:18 am, the BSE Sensex was up 279 points or 0.47 per cent at 59,364, whereas the Nifty 50 index advanced 70.30 points or 0.40 per cent at 17,675.
Notably, most Asian markets were trading higher on Thursday. While Japan’s Nikkei advanced 0.51 per cent, South Korea’s KOSPI advanced 0.85 per cent. China’s Shanghai Composite was down 0.39 per cent, whereas Shenzhen Component was up 0.35 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was trading flat.
Meanwhile, the US markets were trading higher amidst anticipation of a rate hike at the end of the week. The S&P 500 advanced 12.04 points, or 0.3 per cent, whereas Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 59.64 points, or 0.2 per cent. Nasdaq Composite was trading 50.23 points, or 0.4 per cent higher.
Back home, all sectoral indices witnessed buying with banking stocks, realty, and consumer durables leading the pack. While the Nifty Midcap 50 index advanced 0.53 per cent at 8,464, the Nifty Midcap 100 index surged 0.44 per cent at 31,095.
Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, Divi’s Laboratories Limited, SBI Life, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, NTPC, and Kotak Bank were amongst the top gainers, whereas Eicher Motors, Cipla, Apollo Hospital, HCL Tech, and Hero Motocorp were the top losers.