Sensex jumps over 300 points; Nifty above 11,500

Benchmark indices opened in the positive territory on Thursday a day after markets slumped in red. The BSE Sensex was ruling at 38,943 levels, up 344 points, while the NSE's Nifty 50 index was trading at 11,550, up 110 points.

Benchmark indices opened in the positive territory on Thursday on the back of firm global cues as US President Donald Trump said the trade deal with China may happen soon. At 10.15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 335 points at 38,928 while the Nifty 50 gained by 108 points to 11,548. 

At the National Stock Exchange, all sectoral indices were in the positive zone. Among stocks, Indian Oil Corporation was the top winner with a gain of 5 per cent at Rs 147.75 per share. Private lenders ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank were also up by 2.8 and 2.5 per cent respectively. The other prominent gainers were Indiabulls Housing Finance, UPL, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Tata Steel and Hindalco. However, Yes Bank lost by 3.4 per cent to Rs 51.85 per share while IT majors HCL Technologies and Infosys slipped by about 1 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian stocks were slightly up on rising hopes that the United States and China may soon reach a trade deal. The optimism over trade pushed market concerns about US political risks into the background, a day after Democrat lawmakers said they will open an impeachment enquiry into Trump`s dealings with his Ukraine counterpart.

MSCI`s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 0.13 per cent while Japan`s Nikkei rose by 0.4 per cent. The Chinese blue-chip shares advanced by 0.2 per cent and the Hang Seng gained by 0.17 per cent. A day earlier, the Dow Jones also ended 150 points higher.

On Wednesday. The BSE Sensex slumped over 450 points down and remained in red in the early trade. The Nifty also rallied around 11,445 points in the early trade.

On Tuesday, the 30-scrip Sensex of the BSE had opened at a high of 39,087.20 and touched a low of 38,795.73 after closing at 39,097.14.

Over Monday and Tuesday, both the domestic equity indices had traded in green, bouyed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's announcement on reduction of corporate tax and MAT rates.

with ANI inputs