Sensex Surges Over 300 Points in Early Trade; Nifty Above 14,700

Mumbai, Feb 23: Equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 300 points in the opening session on Tuesday tracking gains in index majors Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and L&T.

After touching a high of 50,128.85 in early trade, the 30-share BSE index was trading 260.39 points or 0.52 per cent higher at 50,004.71. After a similar movement, the broader NSE Nifty was quoting 81.50 points or 0.56 per cent up at 14,757.20.

ONGC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying around 6 per cent, followed by L&T, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and IndusInd Bank.

On the other hand, Asian Paints, Kotak Bank, Bajaj Auto, Maruti and HDFC were among the laggards.

In the previous session, Sensex tumbled 1,145.44 points or 2.25 per cent to close at 49,744.32, and Nifty sank 306.05 points or 2.04 per cent to finish at 14,675.70.

Foreign institutional investors turned net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 893.25 crore on Monday, as per exchange data.

Domestic equities look to be good at the moment despite mixed cues from global markets, said Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities.

“Concerns pertaining to increase in bond yields and higher commodity prices dented investors' sentiments in the last couple of days. However, the underlying strength of the economy and market remains intact in our view and

hence any further correction in the market should be used to buy,” he said.

He further added that Indian companies are likely to see sustained earnings recovery in subsequent fiscals and therefore premium valuations are likely to sustain.

US equities extended losses in overnight trade on Monday as worries over continued rise in bond yields dampened investors' sentiments. Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading on a positive note in mid-session deals, while Seoul was in the red. Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.38 per cent higher at USD 65.25 per barrel.

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