Bourses track Asian peers: Sensex rallies over 900 points, Nifty reclaims 9,000-mark; HDFC, Maruti among top gainers

AAJ KI DELHI / INDIAN NEWS ONLINE

The benchmark indices opened in green in the stock market today in line with broader Asia, as investors hoped that the coronavirus pandemic was nearing its peak and that governments would roll out more stimulus measures.

The Sensex soared over 900 points in opening trade on Thursday led by gains in financial, IT and FMCG stocks following rise global equities on hopes of the COVID-19 pandemic approaching its peak.

After hitting a high of 30,847.10, the 30-share BSE barometer was trading 925.67 points or 3.10 per cent higher at 30,819.63.

imilarly, the NSE Nifty was quoting 270.05 points, or 3.09 percent, up at 9,018.80.

HDFC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging up to 5 percent, followed by Maruti, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp and ICICI Bank.

On the other hand, HUL was the sole laggard.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer closed 173.25 points or 0.58 percent lower at 29,893.96, and the Nifty settled 43.45 points, or 0.49 percent, down at 8,748.75.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market, as they bought equity shares worth Rs 1,943.41 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data.

Rupee opened 23 paise higher at 76.11 against US dollar.

According to experts, hopes of another financial stimulus hope before the end of the lockdown period buoyed investor sentiment in early session.

Further, slowing pace of fresh COVID-19 cases has also lent some momentum to global markets, they said, according to PTI.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.6 percent, following a strong Wall Street close

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.55 percent to $33.34 per barrel.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in India rose to 166 and the number of cases to 5,734, according to the Union Health Ministry.

Global tally of the infections has crossed 14.8 lakh, with over 88,000 deaths.