The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Friday soared by 208 points in opening trade on continued buying by funds, driven mainly by firming global trends after a better-than-expected US economic data.
The 30-share BSE index shot up by 208.47 points to 16,272.37 in opening trade as all the sectoral indices were trading in positive zone with gains up to 3.22 per cent.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also gained 65.50 points to trade higher at 4,831.05.
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Brokers said pick up in buying by foreign funds, bolstered by firming trends in other Asian markets in line with overnight gains on the US market on positive jobs data.
Besides, stocks of public sector undertakings remained in good demand for the second straight session after the government’s decision to increase public holding in all the listed profitable Central PSUs to 10 per cent, they said.
Major gainers were Infosys Technologies by 0.58 per cent to Rs 2,236, Wipro by 1.86 per cent to Rs 609.45, Reliance Industries by 1.16 per cent to Rs 1,962.25, ITC Ltd by 0.52 per cent to Rs 253.70 and Maruti Suzuki by 1.63 per cent to Rs 1,513.
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Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 1.88 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei 0.97 per cent higher in the morning trade on Friday. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 2.08 per cent higher in Thursday’s trade.