Sensex up 200 points, Nifty hits 8,300; Infosys up 0.5%

Benchmark indices opened higher amid firm Asian cues and overnight rally in US stocks. Globally, equity markets have surged on positive US jobs data, expectations of aggressive action from European Central Bank and rebound in crude oil prices.

At 9:30AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 187 points at 27,462 and the 50-share Nifty was up 55 points at  8,289 after hitting a high of 8,303.

Asian markets are mostly trading higher on the boost generated by firm global cues. Japanese Nikkei is trading higher by 0.5%. Hang Seng index has gained over 1% though the Shanghai Composite index has declined by around 0.4%.

Expecting further fall in jobless claims in the non-farm payroll data which is due on Friday, US markets extended their previous day's gains and closed higher amid a broad based rally. Sentiments were also boosted on expectations of ECB launching a quantitative easing program for Europe. S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite gained around 1.8% each.

Meanwhile, selling by foreign institutional investors continued and they were net sellers in Indian equities worth Rs 477 crore on Thursday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

All sectoral indices were in the green with BSE Metal index emerging as the top sectoral gainer up 1.2% followed by Healthcare, Realty, Auto, Bankex, Capital Goods and IT indices among others.

Except for NTPC all Sensex stocks were in the green led by IT shares ahead of third quarter earnings from Infosys. The stock was up over 0.5%. TCS was up 1.4% and Wipro gained 0.5%.

Tata Steel was up nearly 2% as the stock has received a rating upgrade from a foreign brokerage.

In the capital goods segment, L&T and BHEL were up 0.8-1% each.

Other Sensex gainers include, Tata Motors, ITC and HDFC among others.

Among other shares, National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd (NBCC) has rallied 5% to Rs 843 on BSE in early morning trade after the company said it has bagged a Rs 1,237-crore order in Odisha under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

In the broader market, the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap indices were up 0.8% each.

Market breadth was strong with 1,187 gainers and 284 losers on the BSE.