Sensex soars 330 pts, Nifty trades at 18,277; metal stocks rally

Domestic equities soared on Thursday as global sentiment improved overnight after US leaders said there wouldn’t be a debt default.

BSE benchmark Sensex opened 329.61 points, or 0.54 per cent higher at 61,890.25, while broader NSE Nifty 50 gained 95.15 points, or 0.52 per cent to open at 18,276.90.

All sectors opened in green except for the Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare Index. The metal index jumped 0.84 per cent, followed by PSU Bank at 0.66 per cent, financial services sectors gained 0.65 per cent, while, the IT index gained 0.60 per cent.

ITC, JSWSteel, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, HDFCLife, HDFC, Hindalco, and Nestle India were among the top gainers in the opening trade.

On the other hand, Divis Lab, BPCL, M&M, Coal India, ONGC, Hindustan Unilever, Titan and HCLTech were the top losers.

ITC soared over 1 per cent today in the early trade, ahead of its Q4 results.

New Delhi Television (NDTV) also gained more than 1 per cent after the company’s board approved a proposal to seek the IT ministry’s permission to launch nine news channels in different Indian languages in phases.

Broader markets also extended gains, as Nifty Microcap 250 gained 0.78 per cent, Nifty Smallcap 50 gained 0.68 per cent, and Nifty Smallcap 100 jumped 0.64 per cent.