Sensex soars 365 points, Nifty reclaims 8,800-mark as US Fed keeps rates unchanged

Mumbai: The BSE benchmark Sensex surged by 365 points and the NSE Nifty regained the 8,800-mark in early trade Thursday, reversing the two-session falling trend on positive cues from other Asian markets as the US Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged.

Strong Inflows from overseas investors and across-the-board buying by the investors also helped market sentiments.

The 30-share barometer Sensex was quoting sharply higher by 364.80 points, or 1.27 percent at 28,871.92 in early trade with all the sectoral indices led by banking, metal and auto were trading in the positive zone, gaining by up to 1.99 percent.

The Sensex had lost 127.08 points in the previous two sessions.

Big gainers that supported the early rally at the indices included ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, SBI, Hero MotoCorp, Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Ltd, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors, GAIL, ONGC and RIL.

The NSE Nifty too reclaimed the crucial 8,800-mark by climbing 108.65 points or 1.24 percent to trade at 8,885.80.

Brokers said a flurry of buying by investors as well as foreign funds, tracking a firming trend in other Asian markets as investors cheered the Federal Reserve's decision not to lift interest rates, buoyed trading sentiments here.

The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged for the sixth straight meeting yesterday, saying it needs to see more signs of strength in the US economy.

Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.54 percent, while Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.77 percent in their early deals. Japanese financial markets are closed for a national holiday.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.90 percent higher in yesterday's trade.