Indian shares opened higher on Thursday, tracking gains in Asian equities, on the back of improved risk appetite following the US Federal Reserve's dovish stance on policy rates.
The Sensex jumped more than 200 points, or 0.57 percent, to 35,794.50 in the initial trade. The Nifty rose 46 points, or 0.44 percent, to 10,698.
Investors are now focusing on the ruling government's sixth and final Budget, which will be an interim one, keeping up with established tradition.
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal will present the Budget on February 1. While it is widely expected that the interim budget may contain tax sops and a certain package for the farm sector, there will be no Economic Survey detailing the state of the economy.
Trading is likely to be volatile on account of the futures and options expiry for January contracts and corporate earnings of companies, including Hero Moto, Vedanta, State Bank of India and Indiabulls Housing Finance, later today.
Among the gainers, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, SBI, NTPC and Tech Mahindra rose between 1 percent and 2.3 percent.
The Nifty Bank outperformed the NSE index, gaining more than half a percent. All 43 sectors on both indexes advanced with BSE Metal leading by 1.26 percent.
ICICI Bank shares were up nearly 2 percent after its third quarter results on Wednesday. The country's second-largest private sector lender by assets, reported a 2.7 percent year-on-year (YoY) fall in net profit at Rs 1,604.9 crore for the third quarter ended December 2018, on higher provisions.
Ashoka Buildcon shares gained 3 percent after the company's third quarter profit rose 32 percent on year. LIC Housing Finance shares also surged 3 percent as the public sector mortgage lender beat estimates on third quarter net profit.
Among laggards, Adani Ports slipped more than a percent, while BPCL, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Zee Entertainment and Indian Oil Corp declined between 0.5 percent and a percent.
Meanwhile, the
rupee opened stronger against the greenback on Thursday, as dollar extended losses post Fed's dovish stance on interest rates. The home currency started at 70.92 against the US dollar, higher from its Wednesday's close of 71.12.
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First Published: Jan 31, 2019 10:00 AM IST
