Mumbai, May 23
The Indian stock markets bounced back strongly on Friday with both the Sensex and Nifty rising sharply during the intra-day trade after a cautious start. The rally was driven by positive global cues and heavy buying in the IT and FMCG stocks.
The Sensex jumped 953 points, or 1.17 per cent, to hit an intra-day high of 81,905. Meanwhile, the Nifty climbed 299 points, or 1.21 per cent, to cross the 24,900 mark, reaching a high of 24,909 during early trade.
However, the market gave up some of its early gains as the session progressed. Around 1 p.m., the Sensex was trading at 81,800.85, still up by 848.86 points or 1.05 per cent.
The Nifty, too, remained in positive territory at 24,887.80, up by 278.10 points or 1.13 per cent.
Leading the gains were stocks like Eicher Motors, ITC, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and HCL Technologies, which rose up to 4 per cent in intra-day trading.
Asian markets also traded in the green, setting a positive tone for Indian equities.
Major indices such as South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225, China’s Shanghai Composite, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were all higher.
In the US, stock futures moved up in early trade, providing additional support to global markets.
On Thursday, the US markets had a volatile session but ended higher after treasury yields dropped.