Sensex recovers over 600 pts ahead of key macro data, Nifty reclaims 10,400

Mumbai: The BSE benchmark Sensex staged a strong comeback by recovering over 600 points in opening trade on Friday following fresh purchases made by domestic investors ahead of key macroeconomic data to be released later in the day, fall in global crude prices and rupee recovery.

Positive leads from most other Asian markets too fuelled the uptrend. The 30-share Sensex climbed 639.80 points, or 1.88 per cent, to 34,640.95 with all the sectoral indices trading in the positive zone. The gauge had plummeted over 750 points to end at a six-month low.

The NSE Nifty was trading above the 10,400-mark, up 174.30 points, or 1.70 per cent, at 10,408.95. Meanwhile, the rupee strengthened by 38 paise to 73.74 against the US dollar in early trade in the forex market after global crude prices eased.

Brokers said besides rupee recovery, built-up of positions by investors ahead of index of industrial production (IIP) numbers for August and inflation data for September – to be released later in the day – too impacted investor sentiment here.

In the Sensex pack, prominent gainers were M&M, Yes Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Adani Ports, IndusInd Bank, Vedanta, Asian Paints, RIL, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, ITC, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, HDFC and Bajaj Auto, rising up to 4.08 per cent.

However, shares of country’s largest software exporter TCS fell 2.13 per cent even after the company on Thursday reported a 22.6 per cent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 7,901 crore in the July-September 2018 quarter.

Shares of oil marketing companies such as HPCL, BPCL and IOC remained strong and rose further by up to 5.33 per cent on falling global crude oil prices. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 3 per cent to quote at USD 80.37 a barrel.

Stocks of Aviation companies – Spcejet, InterGlobe and Jet Airways – too were in better shape, rising up to 5.02 per cent, supported by falling crude prices. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) made purchases worth a net of Rs 1,888 crore on Thursday, provisional data showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.11 per cent, Singapore rose 0.18 per cent, and Taiwan gained 1.17 per cent in their late morning deals. However, Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.25 per cent and Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.12 per cent. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 2 per cent in Thursday’s trade.