Sensex Rises Over 200 Points In Volatile Trade, Nifty Trades Above 15,450

Indian equity benchmarks on Thursday traded higher in opening deals amid mixed cues from the global markets.

Asian shares were mixed as South Korea’s KOSPI index fell 0.80 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei edged 0.01 lower, Shanghai Composite index moved 0.58 per cent higher and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.12 per cent. Overnight, Wall Street reversed gains and ended the session slightly down.

Investors worried over aggressive rate hikes by the central banks and risks of a global recession.

Trends on the Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange (SGX Nifty) indicated a tad higher start for the domestic indices.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 230 points or 0.44 per cent to 52,053 in a volatile early session, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 72 points or 0.46 per cent up to trade at 15,485.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a strong note today as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.54 per cent and small-cap surged 0.78 per cent.

11 out of the 15 sector gauges — compiled by the National Stock Exchange — were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Auto and Nifty IT were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 1.41 per cent and 1.09 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Hero MotoCorp was the top Nifty gainer as the stock soared 4 per cent to ₹ 2,625.40. Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, Wipro and Tata Motors were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,537 shares were advancing while 598 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, Bharti Airtel, Maruti, Wipro, TCS, L&T, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints and UltraTech Cement were among the top gainers.

In contrast, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries and Titan were trading in the red.

Sensex had plunged 710 points or 1.35 per cent to close at 51,823 on Wednesday, while Nifty had moved 226 points or 1.44 per cent down to settle at 15,413.