BSE Sensex surges 174 pts in early trade on corporate earnings

The BSE Sensex recovered over 174 points in opening trade on fresh buying by investors after Hindustan Lever reported better-than-expected earnings on Wednesday.

The 30-share index, which had retreated from record by plunging 363.79 points in the previous session, rebounded 174.18 points or 0.54 percent to 31,885.17 with stocks of FMCG, healthcare, bank, IT, PSU and oil& gas rising by up to 1.13 percent.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty was trading 43.45 points or 0.44 percent higher at 9,870.60. Buying activity emerged after FMCG major Hindustan Unilever on Tuesday posted a 9.28 percent increase in standalone net profit at Rs 1,283 crore for the first quarter ended June 30.

Shares of Hindustan Unilever climbed 3.18 percent to Rs 1,195.105 in early trade. Other gainers that supported the recovery were ITC Ltd, Lupin, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's, Cipla, TCS, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Bank, Tata Steel, SBI, Reliance Industries and Wipro.

Traders said besides encouraging earnings posted by some bluechip companies, a firming trend at other Asian markets, as investors tracked another record close on Wall Street, influenced trading sentiments in Mumbai.

In Asian region, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.11 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.32 percent in early trade. Shanghai Composite too gained 0.71 percent.