Sensex surges 655 points, Nifty gains over 200 points in early trade as IT stocks rally

Representational Image. File pic.

The domestic equity benchmark indices traded in the positive territory in the early deals on Thursday led by buying in IT stocks and marginal easing in crude oil prices.

Sensex, Nifty gain in early trade

The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 654.70 points or 0.90 per cent at 73,436.59 in the initial trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 202.20 points or 0.89 per cent at 22,816.45 in the early trade.

Among the 30 Sensex constituents, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, HCL Tech were the major gainers. Bharat Electronics, Power Grid, Titan, Trent, State Bank of India were the major laggards.

On Wednesday, the Sensex dropped 251.89 points or 0.34 per cent to end at 72,781.89, while the Nifty slipped 99.25 points or 0.44 per cent to settle at 22,622.70 amid a higher WPI inflation print for September and elevated crude oil prices. Profit booking also weighed on the indices.

Global cues

"Global sentiment remains fragile amid weakness in technology stocks and concerns over elevated crude oil prices and geopolitical tensions around the Strait of Hormuz," Hitesh Tailor, Technical Research Analyst at Choice Broking said.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded 1.60 per cent lower at USD 104.4 per barrel, according to news agency PTI.

"The hotter-than-expected US inflation print which spiked from 3.4 per cent in August to 3.7 per cent in September has increased the possibility of yet another rate hike by the Fed in October. This concern triggered big selling in the US market which led to a sharp correction of 1.88 per cent in the tech-heavy Nasdaq," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments said.

He noted that AI stocks bore the brunt of the selling, and the fear has spread to South Korea and Japan impacting their markets in early trade today.

"From the Indian market perspective, the correction in AI stocks is a positive. FIIs who have been selling Indian stocks and buying AI stocks will halt this trend and under favourable conditions might even reverse it," he added.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers and offloaded equities worth Rs 1,857.44 crore, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were net buyers and purchased equities worth Rs 2,670.44 on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hang Seng index all quoted lower.

(With inputs from PTI)