Sensex jumps over 250 points, crosses 39200-mark

MUMBAI: Equity benchmark BSE Sensex jumped over 250 points in early trade on Thursday tracking gains in index heavyweights HDFC twins and L&T amid mixed global cues.

After hitting a high of 39,327.15, the 30-share index was trading 143.09 points, or 0.37 per cent, higher at 39,201.92 in the morning trade, and the broader NSE Nifty advanced 30.10 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 11,634.20.

HCL Tech was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 3 per cent, after the IT major on Wednesday posted a 6.9 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 2,711 crore for the September 2019 quarter, and raised its revenue growth forecast to 15-17 per cent for 2019-20 on the back of strong deal pipeline.

TechM, Tata Motors, L&T, Vedanta, Yes Bank, ITC, Bajaj Auto, HDFC twins and Kotak Bank rose too up to 2 per cent. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, ONGC, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finance and Hero MotoCorp fell up to 2 per cent.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the 30-share Sensex ended 94.99 points, or 0.24 per cent, higher at 39,058.83 and the Nifty advanced 15.75 points, or 0.14 per cent, to settle at 11,604.10.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market, offloading Rs 213.23 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 137.38 crore, data available with stock exchange showed. Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo were trading on a mixed note.

On Wall Street, stock exchanges finished in the green on Wednesday. The rupee, meanwhile, appreciated 7 paise against the US dollar to trade at 70.84 in early session. Brent futures, the global oil benchmark, slipped 0.56 per cent to USD 60.83 per barrel.