Sensex rises over 150 pts, HDFC top gainer

Market benchmark Sensex jumped over 150 points in opening session on Tuesday driven by gains in index-heavyweight HDFC following strong quarterly results.

Starting on a highly volatile note, the 30-share BSE index swung nearly 200 points in early trade before quoting 97.09 points or 0.24 per cent higher at 41,252.21.

Similarly, the broader NSE was trading 29.20 points, or 0.24 per cent, up at 12,148.20.

HDFC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 2 per cent after the country's largest pureplay mortgage lender reported a near four-fold growth in net profit at Rs 8,372.5 crore for the three months to December as against Rs 2,113.8 crore in the same period last fiscal year.

Hero MotoCorp, M&M, Maruti, Sun Pharma, SBI, Bajaj Auto and HDFC Bank were also trading with gains.

Top losers included PowerGrid, Nestle India, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, NTPC and HUL, rising up to 1.24 per cent.

According to analysts, strong earnings of select bluechips lifted benchmarks. Broader markets continued to outperform signalling that investors are hoping for an economic revival in the upcoming budget.

However, volatility remained amid a global selloff triggered by concerns over the impact of rapidly-spreading coronavirus on world economies, they added.

Bourses in Japan and South Korea were trading with sharp losses, while markets in China, Korea and Hong Kong were closed for a holiday.

Brent crude oil futures fell 0.61 per cent to USD 58.22 per barrel.

The rupee appreciated 5 paise to 71.38 against the US dollar in morning session.

In the previous session, Sensex settled 458.07 points, or 1.10 per cent, lower at 41,155.12, and Nifty closed 129.25 points, or 1.06 per cent, down at 12,119.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 438.85 crore, while domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 10.51 crore on Monday, data available with stock exchanges showed.