Stock Market: Sensex Rises 350 Points, Nifty Trades Above 15,650 Amid Positive Global Cues

Stock update: IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, ICICI, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, HUL, and Ultratech Cement led gains on the Sensex, gaining up to 2.7 per cent

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Friday started trade in the positive zone and extended their gains tracking global positive cues.

In the opening, the domestic indices jumped higher. Sensex gains 644 points to 52,909; Nifty gains 192 points to 15,749.

At 10.15 am, the BSE Sensex, which gave up some if its gains, was up 350 points to 52,614, while the broader NSE Nifty was trading at 15,672, up 116 points.

IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, ICICI, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, HUL, and Ultratech Cement led gains on the Sensex, gaining up to 2.7 per cent. ONGC and Apollo Hospitals were the additional winners on the Nifty.

On the flipside, Asian Paint was the top loser, down 0.93 per cent. Infosys, NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, TechM, TCS, Wipro, were all trading in losses.

In the broader markets, Midcap and Smallcap shares were trading on a strong note today as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.93 per cent and smallcap surged 1.26 per cent.

On NSE, all the 15 sector gauges were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank and Nifty FMCG were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 1.55 per cent and 1.17 per cent, respectively.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,794 shares were advancing, while 361 were declining on the BSE.

In the previous session on Thursday, Sensex had jumped 443 points (0.86 per cent) to close at 52,266, while Nifty had moved 143 points (0.93 per cent) up to settle at 15,557.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong and Shanghai were quoting in the green in mid-session deals.

The US markets had ended with gains on Thursday.

"While markets may move sideways in the near-to-medium term, the bears may take a temporary break after the recent sell-offs, with a sharp fall in WTI crude oil prices bolstering the sentiment," said Prashanth Tapse, vice-president (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

International oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.17 per cent to $109.86 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 2,319.06 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data.