Sensex surges 450 points, tops 61,000 on strong global cues, rally in bank stocks

Indian equity indices opened higher on Monday amid positive global cues and amid gains in banking, financial and IT stocks.

The BSE Sensex was trading 449 points or 0.74% higher at 61,071 while Nifty50 was trading at 18,130, up 102 points or 0.57% at around 9.44 am.

In the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank and ICICI Bank were the top gainers, rising over 1%. Kotak Bank, Tata Steel, Power Grid, SBI, HDFC Bank and HUL also opened with gains.

On the other hand, Bajaj Finserv, ITC, Maruti, Asian Paints, NTPC and UltraTech Cement opened with losses.
Sectorally, Nifty PSU Bank rose 1.10% and Nifty Auto surged 0.62%. Nifty Metal and Nifty Financial Services also opened higher. Whereas, in the broader market, Nifty Smallcap50 rose 0.27% and Nifty Midcap50 advanced 0.25%.

Expert View
“Nifty’s 17800-18200 range has been holding for sometime now. To break the upper end of the range, the market needs positive triggers,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said.

“Positive news from the Fed meeting outcome and the Union Budget on 1st February can break the upper band of the Nifty range and take the market higher. On the contrary, if the Fed message and the Budget deliver negative news, the lower end of the range can be broken,” Vijayakumar added.

FIIs this month have sold local shares to the tune of Rs 19,880 crore.

Technically, the Nifty will gain strength only above the 18,275 mark, Prashanth Tapse - Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities said.

Global Markets
Shares were higher in Asia on Monday, but most markets were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, with markets in Shanghai shut for the whole week.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index added 1.1% to 26,852.85 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney edged 0.1% higher, to 7,456.90. The gains followed a rally Friday for tech stocks that countered worries about the weakening U.S. economy.

On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 1.9% to 3,972.61. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1% to 33,375.49. The Nasdaq added 2.7% to close at 11,140.43.

Currency Watch
The Indian rupee rose by 0.22% to 80.94 against the US dollar in early trade.

The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, declined 0.34% to 101.66 level.

Crude Price
US benchmark crude oil declined 0.37% to USD 81.34 per barrel. Brent crude, the price benchmark for international trading, fell 0.41% to USD 87.27 per barrel.

(With inputs from agencies)