Sensex jumps over 150 pts; Nifty above 17,650; ICICI Bank up 2%

Domestic equity indices opened higher on Monday as improved quarterly results from heavyweights Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank eased some concerns over a lacklustre start to the earnings season.

The BSE Sensex was trading 167.73 points or 0.28% higher at 59,822.79. Nifty50 was trading at 17,665.90, up 41.85 points or 0.24% at around 9.20 am.

In the Sensex pack, ICICI Bank and Reliance opened over 1-2% higher on the back of the Q4 results. Wipro, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI and HDFC also opened higher. On the other hand, Sun Pharma, TCS, ITC, Maruti, Infosys and Tata Motors opened in the red.

India’s most valuable company, Reliance Industries reported 19% growth in fourth-quarter profit, aided by the strong performance in the oil-to-chemicals (O2C) segment. Meanwhile, private lender ICICI Bank posted a 30% jump in net profit in the March quarter, helped by improved net interest income and loan growth.