Sensex surges 279 points to finish at 37,393, Nifty also ends 100 points higher

Domestic equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty started on a positive note on Thursday. In the opening trade, the BSE was up by 57.54 points to 37172.42 and settled at 37,393.48 after surging 278.60 points while Nifty also opened 15.50 points higher at 11172.50 and ended at 11,257.10 points after rising 100.10 points.

Earlier, in the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE bourse settled 203.65 points, or 0.55 per cent, lower at 37,114.88; and the Nifty shed 65.05 points, or 0.58 per cent, to settle at 11,157.

Bajaj Finance was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, spurting 3.64 per cent, after the company reported a jump of 50 per cent in standalone net profit at Rs 1,114 crore for the March quarter.

Tata Motors, Infosys, Vedanta, ONGC, PowerGrid, NPTC, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, TCS and RIL too rose up to 3.48 per cent.

On the other hand, Yes Bank was the top loser, cracking 4.07 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Coal India, ITC, M&M, HDFC, Maruti and Asian Paints, shedding up to 1.87 per cent.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,142.44 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities to the tune of Rs 671.77 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.

Bourses in China, Japan and Korea ended on a mixed note after US slapped sanctions on Chinese telecom major Huawei. European stocks opened in the red.

(With inputs from PTI)