Global cues lift Indian stocks sharply; Sensex almost up by 1,000 pts

MUMBAI: Indian stocks jumped sharply on Friday morning tracking positive cues from benchmark US markets - which rose despite inflation remaining elevated in the country in September. At 9.54 am, Sensex traded at 58,201.56 points, up 966.23 points or 1.69 per cent, whereas Nifty traded at 17,288.20 points, up 273.85 points or 1.61 per cent.

All Nifty 50 companies and Nifty sectoral indices traded in the green this morning, National Stock Exchange data showed. "The US markets ended the day sharply higher on Thursday as traders discounted headline inflation data for September that came in at 8.2%, which was higher than expected. As investors recovered from high inflation news, Asian markets are leading Wall Street in trade on Friday," said Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities.

For the record, the US annual inflation rate slowed for the third consecutive month to 8.2 per cent in September 2022, which is the lowest in seven months, as compared to 8.3 per cent in August. "U.S. stocks staged a massive turnaround on Thursday, ending a six-day losing streak, after erasing an early plunge seen when the September consumer-price index came in higher than economists expected, reinforcing expectations the Federal Reserve will continue with large interest rate increases in coming months," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC securities.

For fresh cues, investors in India await wholesale inflation data for September due later Friday. India's wholesale inflation declined during August to 12.41 per cent from 13.93 per cent the previous month but remained in double digits. Notably, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation has been in the double-digit for 17 months in a row now.