Stock Market: Sensex Surges Over 650 Points, Nifty Trades Above 17,250 On Positive Cues. Reliance Up 3 Per Cent

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, Reliance surges over 3 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank, Nestle, HCL, NTPC, PowerGrid were the notable gainers on the platform

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Friday opened in the green tracking improved sentiments as apprehensions on global banking crisis ease.

At 10 am, the BSE Sensex jumped 655 points to 58,615. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty was trading at 17,263, up 182 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Reliance surges over 3 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank, Nestle, HCL, NTPC, PowerGrid were the notable gainers on the platform. On the flipside, Titan, Sun Pharma, Asian Paints, ITC were among the early losers.

Among individual stocks, shares of Reliance Industries rallied over 3 per cent after the board approved demerger of financial services unit. Besides, shares of Bharat Dynamics soared over 4 per cent after the defence firm bagged Rs 8,161 crore worth order from the Ministry of Defence.

In the broader markets, Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices surged up to 1 per cent.

Volatility index, India VIX, meanwhile, slipped over 2 per cent.

All sectors swimmed in the sea of green, with Nifty Bank, Nifty Nifty IT, Nifty Metal, Nifty Media indices rising over 1 per cent each.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE Sensex ended at 57,960, up 346 points (0.6 per cent), after trading between 57,524 and 58,122 during the day. On the other hand, the Nifty50 settled at 17,081, up 129 points (0.76 per cent). Stock markets were closed on Thursday on account of Ram Navami.

"There are signs of the global equity markets, led by the mother market US, coming out of the banking contagion fears. The fact that there have been no further bank failures or major stress in the system, is good news for equity markets," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. Nifty valuations are now reasonable and this has prompted FIIs to turn buyers in the last two days, Vijaykumar said.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Japan, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were quoting in the green. The US markets ended in positive territory on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.24 per cent to $79.08 per barrel.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) were net buyers on Wednesday as they bought equities worth Rs 1,245.39 crore, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated by 24 paise to 82.10 in early trade on Friday following foreign fund inflows and a fall in crude oil prices. Gains in the local stock market and weakness in the US dollar in early Asian trade also boosted the rupee sentiment.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened higher at 82.12 and stayed in the green in early trade. It moved in a range of 82.16 to 82.10 in early deals. The rupee had closed lower by 18 paise at 82.34 to a dollar on Wednesday.