Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 500 points in the opening trade on Friday, buoyed by gains in financial and IT stocks amid positive global cues.
The 30-share BSE index traded 503.28 points or 0.98 per cent higher at 51,782.79, and the broader NSE Nifty 144.35 points or 0.95 per cent up at 15,319.15 at the time of filing this story.
L&T was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 2 per cent, followed by ONGC, NTPC, HDFC Bank, SBI, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, Infosys and TCS. Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, HUL and Maruti were seen trailing.
The Sensex ended trading on Wednesday up 254.03 points or 0.50 per cent at 51,279.51, and the Nifty was up 76.40 points or 0.51 per cent at 15,174.80. Markets remained closed on Thursday for Mahashivratri.
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Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market with an offload volume of Rs 15.69 crore on Wednesday, according to the bourses.
According to VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, the “risk on” in global equity markets got another push with the passage of a massive fiscal stimulus in the US. President Joe Biden has signed a $1.9-trillion American Rescue Plan which is expected to provide a major boost to the country’s economy. US equities ended with strong gains in overnight trade.
Back home, “Nifty is again likely to reach record highs since SGX Nifty is indicating 15,400 levels. IT has been leading this leg of the rally. Now financials may catch up,” Vijayakumar says.
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Exchanges in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo traded in the black in mid-session deals, while Hong Kong was in the red.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.14 per cent lower at $69.53 per barrel on Friday morning India time.
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