Sensex Rebounds Over 500 Points, Nifty Trades Above 16,800

Sensex and Nifty started on a higher note today.

Indian equity benchmarks on Thursday staged a gap-up opening after plunging sharply in the previous session on Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) surprise interest rate hike move.

The Reserve Bank has raised the repo rate by 40 basis points (bps) to 4.40 per cent. Repo rate is the rate at which a central bank lends money to banks.

Asian shares tracked Wall Street gains today after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 50 basis points (bps), lifting investor sentiment and sending the dollar lower.

Back home, the 30-share BSE Sensex rebounded 531 points or 0.95 per cent to 56,200 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 146 points or 0.88 per cent up to trade at 16,824.

Mid- and small-cap shares were positive as Nifty Midcap 100 gained 0.86 per cent and small-cap surged 0.97 per cent.

14 of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty IT, Nifty Auto and Nifty Metal were outperforming the index by rising as much as 1.28 per cent, 1.06 per cent and 1.42 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Hero MotoCorp was the top gainer as the stock soared 3.01 per cent to Rs 2,482. ONGC, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel and SBI Life were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth stood strong as 1,031 shares were advancing while 382 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, TechM, Tata Steel, Infosys, SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Maruti, M&M, Bajaj Finserv and Wipro were among the top gainers.

In contrast, PowerGrid, NTPC, Titan and Nestle India were trading in the red.

Sensex had tanked 1,307 points or 2.29 per cent to close at 55,669 on Wednesday, while Nifty had moved 392 points or 2.29 per cent down to settle at 16,678.