Sensex Rises 685 pts, Nifty Settles Near 17,200; HDFC Twins Shine

Sensex Today: Equity benchmark Sensex jumped 1,087 points in early trade on Friday helped by heavy buying in IT counters and rally in global stock markets. The S&P BSE benchmark index soared to a high of 58,435 in intra-day deals led by strong gains in IT major Infosys and the HDFC twins.

Infosys rallied over 5 per cent to a high of Rs 1,494 on the back of healthy Q2 performance and Rs 9,300 crore share buyback. Analysts expect the stock to log further gains in the coming trading sessions.

Back to the markets, the key indices pared gains in the latter half of the trading sessions as the overall sentiment remained cautious in the backdrop of a high inflation scenario globally. The Sensex eventually ended 685 points higher at 57,920. Thanks to the Friday-rally, the BSE index was able to trim its weekly loss to 271 points.

The NSE Nifty 50 index rallied past the 17,300-level in early deals, but finally settled at 17,186 – up 171 points.

The broader indices erased the entire day’s gain towards the close. The BSE Midcap index was up 0.1 per cent, while the Smallcap index ended unmoved.

Sectorally, the BSE IT and Bankex surged 1.7 per cent each. The Capital Goods index was the other notable gainer. On the other hand, Oil & Gas and Power indices slipped over a per cent each.

Rupee

Indian rupee opened 8 paise higher at 82.27 per dollar on against previous close of 82.35.

The Indian rupee is tipped to strengthen versus the US currency on Friday after the dollar’s rally following higher-than-expected US inflation data proved short-lived.

The dollar index dropped in Asia trading to 112.22 after having reached almost 114 immediately into the data.

Global Cues

Asian shares tracked Wall Street higher on Friday, although gains could quickly unwind as investors grapple with the reality that surging U.S. inflation will likely lead to higher interest rates for longer, hastening a global recession.

Tokyo stocks opened sharply higher Friday, chasing the robust gains made on Wall Street despite US inflation data jumping more than expected. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index jumped 2.67 per cent, or 699.90 points, to 26,937.32 in morning trade, while the broader Topix index rose 2.04 per cent, or 37.84 points, to 1,892.45.

US stocks surged to close more than 2 per cent higher on Thursday, as technical support and investors covering short bets drove a dramatic rebound from a selloff earlier in the day.

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