Sensex rallies over 500 pts in early trade; Nifty tops 14,400

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty opened higher on Friday after having strong gains in global peers. At 9:15 am, the Sensex opened 1.09 percent, or 529.13 points, higher at 48,969.25, while the Nifty surged 156.30 pts to 14,481.20 or 1.27 percent. 

Smallcap and midcap indices gained over a percent each and all the sectoral indices were trading in the green led by PSU Banks, auto, metals and financial services.

L&T was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 2 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finserv, M&M, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank and HDFC duo.

On the other hand, PowerGrid, TCS, Dr Reddy's and Sun Pharma were among the laggards.

In the previous session, the Sensex ended 740.19 points or 1.51 per cent lower at 48,440.12, and the NSE Nifty declined 224.50 points or 1.54 per cent to 14,324.90.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 3,383.60 crore, as per exchange data.

"Domestic equities look good at the moment. A sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in the country has clearly made investors risk averse in the domestic market. However, receding bond yields and oil prices this week have offered some comfort," said Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities.

In his view, ongoing concerns of the new wave of coronavirus in the country may keep markets volatile in the near term.

Meanwhile, US equities recovered from the day's low and finished with modest gains mainly supported by improved job data and revised GDP figures for the December quarter, he noted.

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

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.86 per cent higher at USD 62.48 per barrel.