Sensex, Nifty Surge on Reliance & FII Inflows

Mumbai, Apr 28 (PTI) Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rebounded in early trade on Monday amid sustained foreign fund inflows and a sharp rally in blue-chip stock Reliance Industries.

A firm trend in global markets also propelled rally in the domestic equities.

The 30-share BSE benchmark gauge jumped 456.05 points to 79,668.58 in early trade. The NSE Nifty rallied 112.85 points to 24,152.20.

From the Sensex firms, Reliance Industries climbed 3 per cent after the firm reported a 2.4 per cent rise in March quarter net profit as store rationalisation in retail business and improved margins in telecom helped offset weakness in mainstay oil and petrochemicals business and higher finance cost.

Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Larsen & Toubro and NTPC were also among the gainers.

HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Service, Bajaj Finance and Nestle were among the laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,952.33 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

"The major factor contributing to the resilience of the market is the sustained buying by FIIs in the last eight days. FIIs have turned sustained buyers in a dramatic reversal of their sustained selling strategy. This, in turn, is due to the relative under performance of US stocks, US bonds and dollar," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

The heightened uncertainty relating to Indo-Pak tensions will weigh on the markets, he added.

Foreign investors have infused Rs 17,425 crore in the country's equity markets last week, supported by a combination of favourable global cues and strong domestic macroeconomic fundamentals.

This came following a net investment of Rs 8,500 crore in the preceding holiday-truncated week ended April 18.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi index, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were trading in the positive territory while Shanghai SSE Composite quoted lower.

US markets ended higher on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.25 per cent to USD 67.04 a barrel.

The BSE barometer Sensex tanked 588.90 points or 0.74 per cent to settle at 79,212.53 on Friday. Falling for the second day, the Nifty tumbled 207.35 points or 0.86 per cent to 24,039.35.