Stock Market: Sensex Rises 359 Points, Nifty Reclaims 18,000-Mark Tracking Positive Global Cues

Stock update: Bajaj Finserv was the top gainer, up 4.90 per cent. The other winners were Titan, HDFC twins, HUL, Relinace, and others on the Sensex platform

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Tuesday opened on a strong note amid continuing foreign fund inflows and tracking positive global cues.

The BSE Sensex rose for the fourth consecutive session and surged 359 points to 60,474. As many as 28 Sensex constituents of the index were trading in the green. On the other hand, the broader NSE Nifty crossed the 18,000-level in the early trade  after a period of five months. The index jumped 111 points to 18,047 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Bajaj Finserv was the top gainer, up 4.90 per cent. The other winners were Titan, HDFC twins, HUL, Relinace, and others.

In the broader markets, Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 surged up to 0.6 per cent.

All sectors opened on a cheerful note with Nifty Media and Nifty Bank indices leading the pack.

V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said the ongoing market rally is primarily driven by the sudden reversal of FII strategy. "Retail investor support and fundamental support to the market from a strong economy are aiding the rally. Now, this has become a classic momentum driven market which has the potential to take the indices to new record highs soon," he added.

Asian markets, including South Korea and Hong Kong, were trading higher. On Monday, the US and European markets closed in the green territory.

In the previous session on Monday, the Sensex closed above the 60,000 level, gaining for the third straight session. It closed higher by 321.99 points at a three-week high of 60,115.13. The Nifty too had ended in the positive territory, rising 103 points to close at 17,936.35.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) pumped Rs 2,049.65 crore into domestic equities on Monday, according to data available on the BSE.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.21 per cent to $93.80 per barrel.

On the domestic macroeconomic side, retail inflation rose to 7 per cent in August due to higher food and fuel costs while the factory output declined to a four-month low of 2.4 per cent in July, as per official data released on Monday.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 28 paise to 79.25 against the US dollar in opening trade on Tuesday, tracking the dollar's decline versus its major peers and foreign fund inflows. On Monday, the rupee rose 4 paise to close at 79.53 against the American currency.