Sensex Rises Over 300 Points, Nifty Trades Above 16,000; IT Stocks Climb

Indian equity benchmarks on Friday traded higher in opening deals, led by gains in technology and consumer goods stocks.

Trends on the Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange (SGX Nifty) indicated a positive start for the domestic indices.

Stocks in Asia were trading on a mixed note amid uncertainty around how aggressive the central banks would be in raising interest rates to tame inflation. Overnight, Wall Street indexes declined on fears of a sharp economic downturn.

Back home, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 316 points or 0.59 per cent to 53,733 in the early session, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 79 points or 0.49 per cent higher to trade at 16,017.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.45 per cent and small-cap climbed 0.29 per cent.

All the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty IT and Nifty FMCG were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.65 per cent and 1.03 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Hindustan Unilever was the top Nifty gainer as the stock soared 2.01 per cent to Rs 2,548. Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Britannia and Adani Ports were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,557 shares were advancing while 656 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, HUL, Airtel, L&T, Asian Paints, Infosys, Titan, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Nestle India, Maruti, UltraTech Cement and ITC were among the top gainers.

Also, shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country's biggest insurer and largest domestic financial investor, rose 0.29 per cent to trade at Rs 714.20.

In contrast, Tata Steel, Wipro, Axis Bank, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance and NTPC were trading in the red.

Sensex had slipped 98 points or 0.18 per cent to close at 53,416 on Thursday, while Nifty had moved 28 points or 0.18 per cent lower to settle at 15,939.