Sensex rallies 743 pts on Reliance booster; Nifty tops 9,150

Equity benchmark Sensex rallied 743 points on Wednesday, buoyed by robust gains in index heavyweight Reliance Industries as it struck a Rs 43,574-crore deal with Facebook, amid positive cues from the global markets.

The 30-share index ended 742.84 points or 2.42 per cent higher at 31,379.55. The wider NSE Nifty surged 205.85 points, or 2.29 per cent, to finish at 9,187.30.

Reliance Industries added more than 350 points to the Sensex by soaring over 10 per cent, after Facebook announced an investment of USD 5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 crore) to buy a 10 per cent stake in Jio Platforms.

This deal makes Facebook the largest minority shareholder in Jio Platforms, which is part of Reliance Industries.

Asian Paints, IndusInd Bank, Nestle India, Maruti, Hero MotoCorp and HUL were also among the gainers, spurting up to 5 per cent.

On the other hand, ONGC, L&T and PowerGrid ended in the red.

Positive cues from global markets too lifted investor sentiment here, traders said.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul ended with gains, while Tokyo closed lower.

Stock exchanges in Europe were trading significantly higher in early deals.

Brent crude futures slipped 2.16 per cent to USD 18.91 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the rupee recovered from record low levels to settle higher by 15 paise at 76.68 (provisional) against the US dollar.