Sensex soars 154 points as Febuary F&O series takes off in style

The benchmark BSE Sensex rallied about 154 points to 24,623.56 in early session on Friday on fresh buying push from investors as the February derivatives series was off to a solid start amid positive Asian cues. 

The 30-share Sensex, which lost 22.82 points in the previous choppy session, recouped 153.99 points, or 0.62%, at 24,623.56. Except banking, all sectoral indices of BSE led by consumer durables, metal and oil and gas were in the positive zone, rising by up to 1.85%.

The NSE Nifty jumped 54.35 points, or 0.73%, to 7,479.

Brokers said build-up of bets following the beginning of the February futures and options (F&O) series led to the rebound.

A firming trend at other Asian markets led by Japan after the Bank of Japan surprised markets by announcing a negative
interest rate policy buoyed sentiment here too, they said. However, shares of ICICI Bank and Maruti Suzuki fell pver 3% each, dragged down by muted third quarter earnings announced after trading hours.

Japan's Nikkei climbed 3.21%, Shanghai Composite rose 2% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 2.05% in early trade. 

The US markets ended 0.79% higher in yesterday's trade on higher oil prices and strong corporate earnings.