Sensex jumps over 350 points in early trade; Nifty tops 17,600

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex surged over 350 points in early trade on Monday, tracking gains in index majors ICICI Bank, HDFC twins and Axis Bank amid a positive trend in global markets.

The 30-share index surged 375.30 points or 0.64 per cent to 59,161.97 in opening trade. Similarly, the Nifty rose 94.75 points or 0.54 per cent to 17,606.05.

PowerGrid was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, surging over 3 per cent, followed by Axis Bank, NTPC, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma and Titan.

On the other hand, Bajaj Finance and Nestle India were among the laggards.

In the previous session, the 30-share equity benchmark declined 20.46 points or 0.03 per cent to end at 58,786.67, and Nifty slipped 5.55 points or 0.03 per cent to 17,511.30.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 1,092.40 crore on Friday, according to the exchange data.

"Despite the 39-year high CPI inflation print of 6.8 per cent in November, the US market rallied and the 10-year bond yield stabilised. This expected macro data didn't impact the market.

"However, the message from the meetings of the US Fed, ECB, Bank of England and Bank of Japan, expected this week, will give clues about the medium-term trajectory of interest rates, bond yields and markets," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

The sharp rise in Omicron cases in the UK is a concern, he noted.

In India, the relentless selling by FPIs (Rs 33,799 crore in November and Rs 17,644 crore up to December 10) has been the major headwind for the market, particularly for banking stocks. But sustained FPI selling is not having any significant impact on the market other than putting a cap on the upside of the rally, he said.

"The high earnings visibility of financials, IT and construction-related stocks is encouraging DII and retail buying in these segments," he added.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong were trading with significant gains in mid-session deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 1.16 per cent to USD 76.02 per barrel.