Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on May 18, bouncing back from a two-day fall, amid a rally in the global stock markets and continuous foreign fund inflows.
The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 395.26 points to 61,955.90 in early trade. The NSE Nifty jumped 115.45 points to 18,297.20.
Among the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Nestle, HDFC and Bharti Airtel were the biggest gainers.
Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, Tech Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Unilever and Tata Motors were the laggards.
In Asia, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong markets were trading in the green.
The US market had ended with significant gains on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, optimistic US President Joe Biden declared that he is confident the U.S. will avoid an unprecedented and potentially catastrophic debt default, saying talks with congressional Republicans have been productive.
“Domestic markets are likely to edge higher in early trade on Thursday, buoyed by firm global cues after US President Biden expressed confidence in achieving a debt-ceiling deal.”
"The silver lining from yesterday's weak stock market was that FIIs remained as net buyers on Dalal Street, and have bought shares worth Rs 16,520 crore in the current month so far," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, said in his pre-opening market comment.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying activity as they bought equities worth ₹149.33 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.17% to $76.83 per barrel.
Falling for the second straight session on Wednesday, the 30-share BSE benchmark declined 371.83 points or 0.60% to end at 61,560.64. The Nifty fell 104.75 points or 0.57% to settle at 18,181.75.
"The market is delicately poised with both bullish and bearish signals. Profit booking at higher levels and the build-up of short positions are bearish signs. But optimism regarding resolution of the US debt ceiling impasse is a bullish sign," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.
