Sensex, Nifty Rally on L''T Earnings, US Gains

Mumbai, Jan 31 (PTI) Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rallied in early trade on Friday helped by buying in Larsen & Toubro post its earnings announcement and a firm trend in the US markets.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex rallied 188.11 points to 76,947.92 in early trade, a day before the Union Budget. The NSE Nifty climbed 68.6 points to 23,318.10.

From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Larsen & Toubro climbed over 3 per cent after the infrastructure and engineering major reported a 14 per cent rise in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 3,359 crore for the December quarter on the back of higher revenue from operations.

Titan, Maruti, Adani Ports, Nestle and Power Grid were the other major gainers.

ITC Hotels, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards.

"The Budget - expectations and actuals - will influence the market today and tomorrow. Since we are going into the Budget without a pre-Budget rally, the probability of a rally, post Budget, will be high if the Budget delivers on growth stimulating initiatives like cuts in personal income tax.

"But it is important to understand that the impact of the Budget will last only for a few days, at best. The medium to long-term trend of the market will be dictated by GDP and earnings growth," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.

In Asian markets, Tokyo traded in positive territory, while Seoul quoted lower. Markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong were closed due to holidays.

US markets ended in the positive zone on Thursday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,582.95 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.83 per cent to USD 77.51 a barrel.

The 30-share BSE benchmark advanced 226.85 points or 0.30 per cent to settle at 76,759.81 on Thursday. The Nifty went up by 86.40 points or 0.37 per cent to 23,249.50.