Sensex Rises Over 500 Points, Nifty Reclaims 15,700 On Strong Global Cues

The Indian equity benchmarks surged on Friday mirroring gains in global markets. The Sensex rose as much as 645 points and Nifty 50 index reclaimed its important psychological level of 15,700 led by gains in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bharti Airtel. Stocks and bonds were both headed for their first weekly gain in a month on Friday as investors wagered on central banks bringing inflation to heel, though growth fears dragged on commodities.

As of 9:24 am, the Sensex was up 561 points at 52,827 and Nifty 50 index advanced 186 points to 15,742.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.8 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.2 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI advanced 2 per cent and Taiwan Weighted rose 1.4 per cent.

Overnight, US stocks shook off a midday slump and ended higher Thursday, keeping the market on track for its first weekly gain after three weeks of punishing losses.

The S&P 500 ended 1 per cent higher after having been down as much as 0.4 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6 per cent and the Nasdaq gained 1.6 per cent.

Back home, buying was visible across the board as all the 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Media index's 1.6 per cent gain. Nifty FMCG, Private Bank, Financial Services, Bank, Healthcare and Consumer Durable indices also rose over 1 per cent each.

Broader markets were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.84 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 1.22 per cent.

Hindustan Unilever was among the top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 2.5 per cent to Rs 2,306 after HUL Chairman Nitin Paranjpe on Thursday said India will require some astute handling and a balancing act to make sure that growth does not stall, while inflation is contained, as the immediate future is challenging.

Responding to queries of shareholders in the annual general meeting (AGM), Paranjpe said global supply chain disruptions due to the pandemic and geopolitical tensions have had an impact on India as well.

IndusInd Bank, Britannia Industries, Tata Consumer Products, Eicher Motors, Bharti Airtel, Ultratech Cement, Reliance Industries, Dr Reddy's Labs, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank also rose between 1.4-3 per cent.

On the flipside, Tech Mahindra, Asia Paints, Hindalco and Maruti Suzuki were among the notable losers.

The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 2,048 shares were advancing while 456 were declining on the BSE.