Sensex Rises 1,500 Points, Nifty Above 16,700 As Markets Surge On New Sanctions On Russia

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap up opening and extended gains on Friday mirroring surge in global markets after US President Joe Biden hit back Thursday against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, unleashing robust new sanctions, ordering the deployment of thousands of additional troops to NATO ally Germany and declaring that America would stand up to Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The Sensex rose as much as 1,654 points and Nifty 50 index moved above its important psychological level of 16,700.

As of 2:29 pm, the Sensex was up 1,505 points or 2.74 per cent at 56,023 and Nifty 50 index climbed 460 points or 2.83 per cent to 16,707.

Asian shares rose Friday after U.S. stocks recovered toward the end of a wild trading day, as the world, including President Joe Biden, slapped sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 surged 1.4 per cent in morning trading to 26,343.02. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5 per cent to 7,022.30. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.2 per cent to 2,681.19. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added nearly 0.2 per cent to 22,941.59, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.8 per cent to 3,456.39.

"A small bounce back is expected after the huge sell off. On technical grounds, Nifty has an immediate resistance at 16,640. If nifty closes above that, further upside can be expected towards 16,880-17,000 mark. On the flip side 16,350-16,200 will act as strong support levels," brokerage firm Nirmal Bang said in a report.

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 PSU Bank index's nearly 5 per cent gain. Nifty Metal, Media, Bank, Auto, Financial Services, IT, Private Bank and Oil & Gas indices also rose between 2-5 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index advanced 3.4 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index climbed 4.5 per cent.

Tata Motors was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose nearly 7 per cent to Rs 457 after yesterday's 11 per cent decline. IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, UPL, Hindalco, Tata Consumer Products, Coal India, tech Mahindra and Bajaj Finance also rose between 3-5 per cent.

On the flipside, Britannia Industries and Nestle India were among the notable losers.

The overall market breadth turned positive after seven sessions of trading as 2,338 shares were advancing while 555 were declining on the BSE.

(With inputs from AP)