Sensex rises over 100 points in opening session

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex surged over 100 points in early trade on Thursday led by gains in index-heavyweight Infosys even as Asian peers traded with significant losses.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 116.77 points, or 0.32 per cent, higher at 36,168.58. Similarly, the NSE Nifty rose 18.65 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 10,636.85.

Shares of Infosys rallied around 12 per cent after the IT major posted a stronger-than-expected 12.4 per cent rise in the first quarter consolidated net profit to Rs 4,272 crore, helped by large deals, and said its FY21 revenue is likely to grow by up to 2 per cent.

HCL Tech, TCS, Tech Mahindra and Sun Pharma were the other gainers.

On the other hand, ITC, HDFC, Titan, PowerGrid, NTPC and Tata Steel were among the laggards.

In the previous session, the BSE barometer ended 18.75 points, or 0.05 per cent, higher at 36,051.81, and the broader



Nifty closed 10.85 points, or 0.10 per cent, up at 10,618.20.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday, offloading equities worth Rs 221.70 crore, provisional exchange data showed.

According to traders, rally in IT stocks led by Infosys kept investor sentiment positive, but concerns over rising COVID-19 cases capped the gains.

Bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading around 1 per cent lower, while stock exchanges on Wall Street ended on a positive note in overnight session.

The number of cases around the world linked to the disease has crossed 1.35 crore.

In India, the number of infections spiked to 9.68 lakh, according to the health ministry.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.55 per cent to USD 43.55 per barrel.