Sensex rallies over 500 pts in early trade; Nifty tops 15,300

Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 500 points in opening trade on Friday, buoyed by gains in financial and IT stocks amid positive global cues.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 503.28 points or 0.98 per cent higher at 51,782.79, and the broader NSE Nifty was quoting 144.35 points or 0.95 per cent up at 15,319.15.

L&T was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 2 per cent, followed by ONGC, NTPC, HDFC Bank, SBI, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, Infosys and TCS.

On the other hand, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, HUL and Maruti were among the laggards.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the Sensex ended 254.03 points or 0.50 per cent higher at 51,279.51, and the Nifty rose 76.40 points or 0.51 per cent to 15,174.80.

Markets remained closed on Thursday for Mahashivratri.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they sold shares worth Rs 15.69 crore on Wednesday, as per exchange data.

According to V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, the 'risk on' in global equity markets got another push with the passage of a massive fiscal stimulus.

US President Joe Biden has signed a USD 1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan which is expected to provide a major boost to the country's economy.

US equities ended with strong gains in overnight trade.

Back home, Nifty is again likely to reach record highs since SGX Nifty is indicating 15,400 levels. IT has been leading this leg of the rally. Now financials may catch up, Vijayakumar said.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo were trading on a positive note in mid-session deals, while Hong Kong was in the red.

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.14 per cent lower at USD 69.53 per barrel.