Sensex Jumps 500 Points, Nifty Above 24,950; TechM, HDFC Bank Up 3%

Indian benchmark indices BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 opened higher on Monday, tracking Friday’s gains on Wall Street.

At the opening bell, the BSE Sensex was up 420 points, or 0.52 per cent, at 81,645, while the Nifty 50 was at 24,962, up 108 points, or 0.44 per cent.

The Sensex hit an intrady high of 81,391.15 today, and the Nifty hit 24,886.20

Among sectors, the Nifty Private Bank index advanced 1.9 per cent, the Nifty Metal index 1.57 per cent, and the Nifty Bank 1.57 per cent. On the contrary, the Nifty IT index slipped 1.47 per cent and the Nifty FMCG index 0.51 per cent.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index added 0.21 per cent, but the BSE SmallCap slipped 0.16 per cent.

Global Cues

Meanwhile, markets in the Asia-Pacific region were slightly higher as traders assessed the rate cut announced by China’s central bank on Monday morning.

The people’s Bank of China (PBOC) said it would cut the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) to 3.1 per cent, down 25 bps, while the five-year LPR has been trimmed to 3.6 per cent.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up slightly by 0.15 per cent, while the broader Topix was down by 0.14 per cent.

South Korea’s Kospi was up by 0.68 per cent, and the small-cap Kosdaq was ahead by 0.05 per cent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was trading 0.7 per cent higher.

That apart, tech stocks powered Wall Street stocks to a higher close and crude prices posted their biggest weekly drop in a month on Friday as investors looked past mixed earnings and focused on solid Netflix results and Beijing’s policy steps to boost Chinese demand.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 36.86 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 43,275.91; the S&P 500 rose 23.20 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 5,864.67; and the Nasdaq Composite rose 115.94 points, or 0.63 per cent, to 18,489.55.

European stocks closed higher, helped by a resurgence in tech stocks at the conclusion of a choppy week, which included mixed earnings and a rate cut from the European Central Bank. The STOXX 600 logged its second weekly advance.