Sensex Surges Over 650 Points Amid Positive Global Cues, Nifty Trades Above 16,500

Indian equity benchmarks on Wednesday traded higher in opening deals amid positive global cues. Domestic indices extended their winning run for the fourth session led by gains across all sectors.

Asian shares rallied following an overnight surge on Wall Street as strong U.S. corporate earnings and the expected resumption of Russian gas supply to Europe offered some respite to investors worried about higher inflation and interest rate hikes by central banks.

Market participants had feared that aggressive rate hikes to tame inflation could push the economy into recession.

Back home, the government’s move to slash windfall taxes on crude and fuel exports also boosted investors’ sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 672 points or 1.23 per cent to 55,439 in the early session, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 166 points or 1.01 per cent higher to trade at 16,506.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.59 per cent and small-cap climbed 0.97 per cent.

All the 15 sector gauges — compiled by the National Stock Exchange — were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty IT, Nifty Metal and Nifty Oil & Gas were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 1.10 per cent, 1.21 per cent and 1.94 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, ONGC was the top Nifty gainer as the stock soared 5.63 per cent to ₹ 135.10. Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Infosys and Hindustan Unilever were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,071 shares were advancing while 457 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, TechM, Reliance, Infosys, HUL, TCS, Titan, HCL Tech, Wipro, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement and Maruti were among the top gainers.

Also, shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country’s biggest insurer and largest domestic financial investor, rose 0.68 per cent to trade at ₹ 693.45.

In contrast, ITC was trading in the red.

Sensex had climbed 246 points or 0.45 per cent to close at 54,768 on Tuesday, while Nifty had moved 62 points or 0.38 per cent higher to settle at 16,341.