Sensex jumps 300 points, Nifty tops 11,100 on hopes of capital market booster

NEW DELHI: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty logged strong gains in opening trade on Friday as investors continued cheering the prospects of a possible capital market booster package from the government.

Leading overseas investors are scheduled to meet finance ministry officials today as the government seeks to ease concerns over dwindling foreign portfolio inflows after a budget move to increase tax surcharge on them, media reports suggested.

Besides, a delegation of India Inc met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday with a charter of demands, that included tax rationalisation, a package for NBFCs, faster transmission of policy rate cuts and relief from harsh penal provisions introduced in the Companies Act for noncompliance with CSR. The government has assured some "quick action" to jumpstart the sluggish economy.

Rupee's rise against the US dollar and improved global sentiment also played ball.

The Indian currency opened 14 paise higher at 70.55 against the US dollar on Friday. Asian shares edged up, following a Wall Street rally, helped by China's better-than-expected export figures. However, fresh concerns about Sino-US trade ties remained an overhang.

Sensex jumped over 300 points and Nifty topped 11,120 in early deals.


Around 9:30 am, the 30-pack Sensex was 284 points, or 0.76 per cent up at 37,611 with 23 stocks in the green. The NSE Nifty50 was trading 84 points or 0.76 per cent higher at 11,116. BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were 1 per cent up each, around that time.

Power Grid, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Steel were among the top gainers in the Sensex index.

On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and YES Bank were among the top losers in the Sensex kitty.

All sectoral indices were in the green on BSE, with power, utilities, oil & gas, metal, bank and finance rising 1 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 437 crore on Thursday, data available with NSE suggested. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 291 crore, data suggests.