Sensex rises over 150 points in early trade; Nifty tops 15,850

MUMBAI: Equity benchmark Sensex surged over 150 points in early trade on Tuesday, tracking gains in index majors HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Tata Steel amid a positive trend in global markets.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 155.51 points or 0.29 per cent higher at 53,007.78 in initial deals, while the broader NSE Nifty rose 48.15 points or 0.30 per cent to 15,872.60.

Tata Steel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising more than 1 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Maruti, Titan and SBI.

On the other hand, Axis Bank, L&T, HCL Tech, Nestle India and HDFC were among the laggards.

In the previous session, Sensex ended 123.53 points or 0.23 per cent lower at 52,852.27, and Nifty slipped 31.60 points or 0.20 per cent to 15,824.45.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,376.79 crore on Monday, as per provisional exchange data.

Domestic markets look to be modestly good as of now.

Notably, 1QFY22 corporate earnings have been strong so far and commentary of most management also have been encouraging, said Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities.

"While asset quality worry for banks and NBFCs post 1QFY22 earnings cards of HDFC Banks and ICICI Banks weighed on investor sentiment, it is likely to improve with the reopening of the complete economy and faster job creation," he stated.

While concerns over global growth due to the recent rise in delta variant coronavirus cases in different parts of the world continue to persist, we believe that the underlying strength of the domestic market remains intact, Modi added.

US equities extended gains ahead of corporate earnings report cards of heavyweights and Federal Reserve policy meeting outcome.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo were trading with gains in mid-session deals, while Hong Kong was in the red.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.41 per cent to USD 74 per barrel.