Sensex rallies over 500 points in early trade; Nifty tops 14,650

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 500 points in early trade on Tuesday, tracking gains in index majors HDFC twins, HUL and ICICI Bank amid largely positive cues from the Asian peers.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 510.31 points or 1.04 per cent higher at 49,518.81, and the broader NSE Nifty surged 162.70 points or 1.12 per cent to 14,670.

HUL was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 3 per cent, followed by Titan, NTPC, ONGC, Dr Reddy's, Nestle India, PowerGrid, HDFC twins and ICICI Bank.

On the other hand, M&M was the sole laggard.

Domestic financial markets were closed on Monday for Holi.

In the previous session on Friday, the Sensex surged 568.38 points or 1.17 per cent to finish at 49,008.50, and Nifty climbed 182.40 points or 1.27 per cent to 14,507.30.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 50.13 crore on Friday, as per exchange data.

Market opened on a positive note on Tuesday tracking positive cues from Asian markets, traders said.

"Sharp decline in FII selling coupled with large buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) can support the market and even take it higher.

"But there are many concerns like surge in COVID-19 cases, particularly in economically crucial Maharashtra, appreciation in US 10-year bond yield above 1.7 per cent and the dollar index moving up to 92.8 levels,? said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul were trading on a positive note in mid-session deals, while Tokyo was in the red.

Stock exchanges on Wall Street ended with losses in overnight trade amid worries over the impact of a default by a US-based hedge fund on margin calls last week.

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Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.18 per cent higher at USD 65.04 per barrel.