Sensex, Nifty gain in early trade

A traffic signal in the foreground of the Bombay Stock Exchange on Dalal Street seems to reflect the mood of the stock markets in Mumbai.
| Photo Credit: Paul Noronha

The domestic equity market opened on a strong note on Friday, with benchmark Sensex jumping more than 350 points tracking positive global cues and ebbing concerns over the fallout of the banking sector woes in the U.S. and Europe.

The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 352.26 points or 0.61% to 57,987.10 points while the broader NSE Nifty climbed 124 points or 0.73% to 17,109.60 points.

Among the Sensex stocks, 24 recorded gains while 6 were in the red. As many as 39 scrips were trading higher and 11 were down in the Nifty pack.

On Thursday, the two indices had closed in the positive territory, halting five days of losing streak.

European and U.S. stocks closed with significant gains on Thursday.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said multi-billion dollar lifelines for troubled U.S. and European banks shored up investor confidence on Friday and bolstered sentiment in battered stocks, although concerns now centre on whether a global financial crisis has been fully averted.

Asian markets extended a risk rally in the U.S. on Friday in a wild week that saw a brewing banking crisis send bond yields plunging while market participants sharply lowered expectations of future interest rate hikes in developed economies, Jasani said.

For the sixth straight trading session on Thursday, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers of domestic equities as they offloaded shares worth ₹282.06 crore, data with BSE showed.