Tracking Asian peers, Sensex, Nifty open on positive note

Tracking their Asian peers, the benchamrk indices Sensex and Nifty opened on a positive note on Thursday. The BSE Sensex rose 246 points to trade above the key 35,000 mark.

At 9:50, Sensex was up  by 70.88 points to trade at 34,974.69 while Nifty was trading at 10,630.50 points. The rally in domestic equity and money market came after Asian stocks rebounded from a two-month trough on Thursday, while the euro enjoyed a respite after sinking to its lowest in 10 months as political turmoil in Italy that had roiled global financial markets showed signs of easing.  

The Nifty top gainers were HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Tata Steel and Coal India, trading around 1-3 per cent higher each in early deals. Kotak Mahindra Bank rose 0.6 per cent, HDFC gained 1.1 per cent and Bajaj Holdings went up 0.8 per cent.

Meanwhile, the rupee strengthened by 6 paise to 67.37 against the dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange ahead of GDP data scheduled to be released later today.

Forex dealers said besides selling of the American currency by exporters and banks, weakness in the dollar against other currencies supported the rupee.

Furthermore, expectations of robust GDP growth and a higher opening in the domestic equity market, influenced the rupee uptrend, they added.

Yesterday, the rupee had ended with a solid 43 paise gain against the American currency at 67.43 after traders unwound bullish dollar positions.

Benchmark indices too closed lower for the second straight day on Wednesday as political uncertainty in Italy and flaring up of trade tensions between the US and China triggered a global sell-off.

Moody's cutting India's 2018 GDP growth forecast added to the sombre mood, with no let-up in selling by participants ahead of May derivatives expiry, brokers said.

The BSE Sensex slipped over 43 points in volatile trade to end at 34,906.11, while the 50-share Nifty shed 18.95 points to finish at 10,614.35.

Asian markets nosedived after US President Donald Trump unexpectedly ratcheted up trade tensions with China. 

The US imposed a hefty 25 per cent tariff on USD 50 billion worth of Chinese goods and tightened its noose against China's alleged theft of US' intellectual property rights.