Sensex rises 150 points, Nifty near 18,200 on hopes of US debt ceiling deal

Tracking positive cues from global markets amid optimism that the US could soon reach a debt ceiling deal to avoid a default, benchmark equity indices opened higher on Friday, led by banking, financial and IT stocks.

The BSE Sensex was trading 167 points or 0.27% higher at 61,599. Nifty50 was trading at 18,177, up 47 points or 0.26% at around 9.16 am.

In the Sensex pack, SBI, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, UltraTech Cement, and Tata Motors opened with gains, while Titan, Maruti, M&M, IndusInd Bank, ITC, and Tata Steel opened with cuts.

Among individual stocks, Bata India rose over 4% higher after the footwear maker reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as raw material costs softened and demand for brands such as Hush Puppies and Comfit rose. Tata Elxsi dropped 4% post Q4 results.

On the sectoral front, Nifty IT rose 0.71%, and Nifty PSU Bank surged 0.59%. Whereas, auto, FMCG, metal, pharma, realty and oil & gas sectors opened with cuts. In the broader market, Nifty Midcap 100 fell 0.14%, while Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 0.08%.