Sensex Surges Over 1,000 Points, Nifty Reclaims 17,300 On Strong Global Markets

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a strong bounce back on Friday led by gains in Infosys after its surprised market participants by posting better than expected September quarter earnings and announcing share buyback proposal worth Rs 9,300 crore. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC, State Bank of India and Kotak Mahindra Bank were also among the leading movers in the Sensex amid strong global cues. The Sensex rose as much as 1,087 points and Nifty 50 index reclaimed its important psychological level of 17,300.

As of 9:20 am, the Sensex rose 1,040 points to 58,312 and Nifty 50 index climbed 308 points to 17,322.

Asian shares tracked Wall Street higher on Friday, although gains could quickly unwind as investors grapple with the reality that surging U.S. inflation will likely lead to higher interest rates for longer, hastening a global recession.

Japan's Nikkei surged 3.45 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 3 per cent, Singapore's Straits Times advanced 1.1 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI rose 2.5 per cent.

Wall Street staged its biggest comeback in years on Thursday, as stocks roared back from steep morning losses caused by a worse-than-expected report on inflation.

The S&P 500 jumped to a gain of 2.6 per cent, a stunning reversal after earlier being down as much as 2.4 per cent and touching its lowest level in nearly two years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average swung more than 1,500 points from its low to its high. The turnarounds were the biggest for each index since March 2020.

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 IT index's over 2 per cent gain. Nifty Private Bank, PSU Bank, Bank and Financial Services indices also rose around 2 per cent each.

Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing strong buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indexes rose over 1 per cent each.

Infosys was top Nifty gainer, the stock surged 4 per cent to Rs 1,477 after its board approved share buyback offer worth Rs 9,300 crore at Rs 1,850 per share. The country's second largest IT services company - Infosys - on Thursday informed stock exchanges that its net profit in September quarter rose 12 per cent sequentially to Rs 6,021 crore from Rs 5,360 crore in the previous quarter on the back of large deal wins. On an annual basis, Infosys' profit advanced 11 per cent. 

HCL Technologies, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Eicher Motors, Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, UPL, HDFC Bank and SBI Life also rose between 1.75-3 per cent.

The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 2,228 shares were advancing while 413 were declining on the BSE.