Sensex jumps over 200 points in early trade; Nifty tops 11,700

MUMBAI: Equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 200 points in early trade on Friday led by gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries, TCS and HCL Tech amid positive cues from US equities.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 202.68 points or 0.51 per cent higher at 39,952.53. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty rose 64 points or 0.55 per cent to 11,734.80.

NTPC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 2 per cent, followed by Nestle India, HCL Tech, ONGC, SBI, M&M, TCS and Reliance Industries.

On the other hand, PowerGrid, Maruti, Bajaj Finance, HUL, Kotak Bank and Titan were among the laggards.

In the previous session, Sensex ended 172.61 points or 0.43 per cent lower at 39,749.85, while Nifty fell 58.80 points or 0.50 per cent to 11,670.80.

Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 420.95 crore on a net basis on Thursday. "Domestic market is expected to remain volatile during the day. However, favourable data of core sector growth, strong 2Q earnings so far and possibility of additional fiscal stimulus before Diwali will offer support," said Arjun Yash Mahajan, Head - Institutional Business at Reliance Securities.

Further, US equities finally rebounded after four consecutive days of declines as investors took a bit of comfort from September quarter GDP print, which recorded a growth of 33.1 per cent, he said, adding that jobless data for latest week fell to seven months low.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Tokyo were trading on a negative note in mid-session deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.58 per cent higher at USD 38.48 per barrel.