Sensex up 146 pts, Nifty opens above 12,000; HDFC, Bharti Infratel, Infosys top gainers

Equity benchmark indices, the BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty, opened on a firm note Thursday, November 7. The Sensex was trading at 40,616, up 146 points or 0.36 per cent, while the Nifty rose 38 points or 0.32 per cent to scale the 12,000-mark. Among the top gainers are HDFC, IndusInd Bank and Infosys while Bharti Airtel, ONGC and Maruti are the top losers. 

On Wednesday, equity indices erased early losses and made a dramatic recovery in the afternoon trade due to heavy buying in metal, banking and realty stocks.The BSE S&P Sensex closed 222 points or 0.55 per cent higher at 40,470 while the Nifty 50 moved up by 44 points to 11,961. Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green except for Nifty auto, PSU bank and media.Nifty realty ticked up by 2.3 per cent, private bank by 1.4 per cent, financial service by 1.1 per cent and metal by 0.4 per cent.

On global front on Thursday, Asian shares managed to cling near multi-month peaks while bonds eked out a bounce as reports of delays in sealing a preliminary Sino-US trade deal left investors frustrated at the lack of concrete progress. MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased a slight 0.1%, just off a six-month high hit earlier in the week, said a Reuters report.

Japan`s Nikkei dithered either side of flat in quiet trade, having touched a 13-month top on Wednesday. South Korean stocks were up 0.1% after hitting their highest since May. Shanghai blue chips added 0.3%, while E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 were down a touch, said the report.

The euro was struggling to sustain any bounce at $1.1064 , perilously close to chart support at $1.1060. Spot gold was little changed at $1,490.64 per ounce and well within recent tight trading ranges.

Oil prices nursed losses after taking a hit from a surprisingly large build in US crude inventories, said Reuters report, adding that US crude was 2 cents lower at $56.33 a barrel, while Brent crude was unchanged at $61.74.