Opening Bell: Sensex jumps over 250 points, Nifty reclaims 10,900 level

The benchmark BSE Sensex jumped over 250 points and the NSE Nifty reclaimed the 10,900-mark Friday on continued buying by institutional and retail investors amid encouraging 3Q earnings by some more companies. Besides, positive leads from other Asian markets also buoyed trading sentiments here. The 30-share index advanced by 253.42 points, or 0.71 per cent, to 36,448.52, after rising to 36,474.05 in early trade. The gauge had gained about 87 points in the previous session. The NSE Nifty rose by 79.75 points, or 0.74 per cent, to 10,929.55.

All the sectoral indices, led by capital goods, bankex, oil and gas and metal stocks, were trading higher. Major gainers that supported the uptrend were Yes Bank, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki, PowerGrid, L&T, IndusInd Bank, ONGC, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Vedanta Ltd, RIL, ITC Ltd, TCS, Coal India, Tata Steel, NTPC, HDFC Ltd, Kotak Bank, Bajaj Finance and SBI, rising up to 8.35 per cent.

Brokers said, besides persistent buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs), a firm trend at other Asian bourses, following gains in US technology stocks influenced sentiments here.

Meanwhile, DIIs bought shares worth a net Rs 389.96 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 94.45 crore Thursday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei was trading higher by 0.99 per cent, Korea’s Kospi was up 1.43 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.38 per cent, Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.57 per cent and Taiwan’s index rose 0.91 per cent in their late morning deals. Singapore’s Straits Times too rose 0.56 per cent.

On Wall Street, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.09 per cent down in Thursday’s trade.