Stock Market: Sensex Rises 535 Points, Nifty Trades Above 17,750; IT, PSU Banks Lead

Stock update: Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Bajaj Finance emerging as the biggest gainers on the Sensex platform

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Thursday opened trade in the green amid positive global cues. The domestic equity indices rebounded in early trade after falling in the previous two trading days, aided by foreign fund inflows.

At 10.15 am, the BSE Sensex jumped 535 points to 59,563, while the broader NSE Nifty went higher by 141 points to 17,766.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, all the scrips were leading in early trade, with Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Bajaj Finance emerging as the biggest gainers.

Broader markets also reflected similar resilience as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 surged up to 1 per cent.

All sectors were trading in the positive zone, with Nifty IT and Nifty PSU Bank indices leading the trade.

Among individual stocks, shares of NDTV hit 5 per cent lower circuit for the second consecutive day.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE benchmark declined 168 points (0.28 per cent) to settle at 59,028, while the Nifty dipped 31 points (0.18 per cent) to 17,624.

“After two days of a steady fall, local equity benchmark indices are likely to see a firm opening, mirroring gains in US markets and subsequent upmove in other Asian peers,” said Prashanth Tapse - research analyst, senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd in his pre-market opening comment. 

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul and Tokyo were trading in the green, while Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted lower in mid-session deals. The US markets had ended significantly higher on Wednesday.

On the other hand, the international oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.05 per cent to $88.92 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 758.37 crore on Wednesday, as per exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 27 paise to 79.68 against the US dollar in opening trade on Thursday, tracking its Asian peers, and easing crude oil prices. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 79.72 against the dollar, then touched 79.68 in initial deals, registering a gain of 27 paise over its previous close.

On Wednesday, the rupee declined by 13 paise to close at 79.95 against the US currency.