Sensex trades above 35,000, Nifty gains 60 points, oil & gas stocks rise

At 9.50 am, the BSE Sensex was trading up 147.13 points or 0.42% at 35,072.00, while the NSE Nifty rose to 10,665.80, 0.57% or 60.65 points higher.

The benchmark BSE Sensex reclaimed the 35,000-mark by surging over 150 points in early trade on Monday, on easing geopolitical concerns and a sharp correction in global crude prices.

An appreciating rupee, encouraging earnings by some more companies and easing concerns over US-North Korea summit too boosted investor sentiment.

At 9.50 am, the BSE Sensex was trading up 147.13 points or 0.42% at 35,072.00, while the NSE Nifty rose to 10,665.80, 0.57% or 60.65 points higher.

The rupee strengthened by 39 paise to 67.39 against the dollar at the interbank forex market in early trade on Monday.

Counters such as oil and gas, PSU, healthcare, realty, infrastructure, metal and banking were trading in the positive territory.

Sun Pharma shares rose 4.66% to Rs 488.30 after the drug maker on Friday posted 6.96% increase in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,308.96 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2018.

Other major gainers that supported the indices were Yes Bank, SBI, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, Coal India, ONGC, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paint, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddy’s, Bajaj Auto and ITC, rising by up to 1.59%.

Traders said building of fresh long positions amid continued buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) and Brent crude falling by 1.88% to USD 75 per barrel in global markets, kept the bullish sentiment intact.

Meanwhile, on Friday, DIIs bought shares worth a net of Rs 887.76 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 768.29 crore, provisional data showed.

Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.47%, Japan’s Nikkei up 0.15% in early trade. Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.18%

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.24% lower in Friday’s trade.