Indian equity benchmarks began Thursday's session in the green powered by strength in financial, IT and metal shares, though weakness in oil & gas names limited the upside. Globally, a rebound across equities amid optimism on economic and earnings growth sent positive signals to Dalal Street.
Both headline indices rose as much as 0.6 percent in early deals. The Sensex rose 362.1 points to touch 58,712.7 at the strongest level of the day so far, and the Nifty50 climbed to as high as 17,490.7, up 102.6 points from its previous close.
A total of 45 stocks in the Nifty50 basket rose at the open. Hindalco, Infosys, Tata Motors, Wipro and UPL were the top gainers.
Tech Mahindra, BPCL, Mahindra & Mahindra, Grasim, HCL Tech and Bharti Airtel — rising around one percent each — were also among the top blue-chip gainers.
On the other hand, Tata Consumer, ONGC and Britannia — down 2.5 percent, one percent and 0.2 percent respectively — were among the top laggards.
Britannia shares declined ahead of the FMCG's financial results due later in the day.
Investors awaited the outcome of a key meeting of the RBI's rate-setting panel due on Friday for domestic cues.
"In India, FPIs turning buyers has changed the sentiment in favour of the bulls. The market momentum is so strong that it is overpowering negatives like higher valuations and a rising trade deficit. If the FPI buying sustains, the market may remain resilient but investors should exercise caution," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
He suggests sticking with high quality growth stocks.
Overall market breadth was in favour of the bears, as 1,329 stocks rose and 1,837 declined on BSE.
Global markets
Equities in other Asian markets began the day in the green following a strong session on Wall Street overnight. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.8 percent at the last count. Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.5 percent.
S&P 500 futures were flat, a day after the three main US indices surged 1-3 percent following strong profit forecasts from PayPal and CVS Health Corp. The tech stocks-heavy Nasdaq Composite scaled a level last seen in early May.
