Mumbai, February 7: The benchmark Sensex rose by over 470 points in opening trade today, breaking its six-session long losing streak on value-buying in select blue-chips by domestic investors triggered by a recovery in global markets. The 30-share BSE index gained 470.39 points, or 1.37 per cent, at 34,666.33 in opening trade. Also, the NSE Nifty rose by 115.75 points, or 1.10 per cent, to 10,614. All sectoral indices, including realty, metal, consumer durables and banking advanced up to 2.56 per cent.
The gauge had lost 2,087.31 points in the previous six sessions following a global rout in equities inflicted by inflation worries and imposition of a 10 per cent long-term capital gains tax on equities. Emergence of buying at prevailing lower levels after recent losses and a better trend at other Asian markets, following overnight gains at the Wall Street helped both the key indices recover.
Caution prevailed as investors kept their positions at a low ebb amid expectations that the RBI may keep rates unchanged, brokers said. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) made purchases worth Rs 1,699.74 crore yesterday, as per provisional data. Major gainers such as Tata Steel, Tata Motors, ONGC, IndusInd Bank, Dr Reddy's, Maruti Suzuki, SBI, M&M, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank and RIL rose up to 2.14 per cent.
Among the Asian bourses, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.59 per cent, Japan's Nikkei rose 3.06 per cent, while Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.65 per cent in early trade today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 2.33 per cent lower yesterday.