Domestic markets surge in early trade, tracking global cues

MUMBAI: The domestic markets gained in early Thursday morning, tracking strong global cues. The 30-share Sensex surged 170 points to 61,237.54 while NSE Nifty50 went up 43 points to 18,243 level. Investors are upbeat about strong global markets and key indices which are all looking up on Thursday.

Sectoral indices of BSE Financial Services, BSE Industrials and BSE TECK surged in the morning, led by IOB, RBL Bank, Maharashtra Bank, Tejas Net, HCL Tech, Infosys, Tanla and Kirlos Bros.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei went up 104 points, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 534 points and China's Shanghai rose 9.50 points.

In Europe, FTSE rose 126 points, CAC was trading in green and Deutsche was up 213 points. In American markets, Dow Jones was trading strongly with 526 points up, Nasdaq went up 162 points while S and P surged 56 points.

The US stocks closed higher on Wednesday, following upbeat earnings results from Nike and FedEx as well as improving consumer confidence and easing inflation expectations from investors.

On Thursday, the rupee gained in early trade as the dollar retreated slightly on solid US economic data, which cheered risk assets overnight. On Wednesday, domestic shares tumbled on Wednesday, amid broader selling pressure.

Pharma and healthcare stocks were in demand due to renewed fears of a Covid outbreak in China, the US, and other countries. IT shares also witnessed bargain hunting. However, global shares were positive ahead of the release of the US GDP numbers on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Sensex shed 635.05 points or 1.03 per cent to 61,067.24 while The Nifty 50 declined 186.20 points or 1.01 per cent to 18,199.10.

Adani Enterprises' shares were down 6.27 per cent, Reliance Industries was down 1.40 per cent, ICICI Bank went down 1.88 per cent, HDFC sipped 1.67 per cent and HDFC Bank declined 0.86 per cent. These stocks dragged the indices on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, sellers outnumbered buyers. According to data available on the BSE, 786 shares rose and 2,765 shares fell. A total of 114 shares were unchanged. The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, surged 12.93 per cent to 15.56.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday said Covid-19 is not over yet and asked people to be on alert. Mandaviya chaired a review meeting with health officials on the Covid-19 situation amid a spurt in global cases and said the government is prepared to manage any situation.