Mumbai: Benchmark indices started the trade on a firm note Thursday with the Sensex climbing 239 points, mirroring positive global market trends.
The 30-share BSE benchmark was trading 239.3 points higher at 53,753.45. The broader NSE Nifty climbed 74.7 points to 16,041.35.
Among the Sensex constituents, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Lab, HDFC, Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, ITC and ICICI Bank were the prominent gainers.
Tata Steel, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra and State Bank of India were the laggards.
In Asia, markets in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were quoting in the green.
The US markets had ended lower Wednesday.
“Even though the keenly awaited US CPI inflation data for June came at 9.1 per cent against expectation of 8.8 per cent, the US markets declined only moderately, by less than 1 per cent,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
The BSE Sensex declined by 372.46 points or 0.69 per cent to settle at 53,514.15 Wednesday. The Nifty fell 91.65 points or 0.57 per cent to 15,966.65.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.69 per cent to USD 100.23 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors continued to offload shares worth Rs 2,839.52 crore Wednesday, as per exchange data.
“FIIs have used the July rally to press further big selling after what appeared as selling exhaustion in early July. This renewed FII selling may strengthen the bears but DIIs and retail investors are likely to turn strong buyers at every dip since India’s economic fundamentals are strong and, more importantly, valuations are attractive particularly in segments/stocks where FIIs are selling,” Vijayakumar added.
