Photo: The Hindu Business Line
Chennai, India (BBN) - The benchmark BSE Sensex was trading higher by over 120 points due to value-buying by investors and optimism ahead of GST Council meeting.
Buying by domestic institutional institutions (DIIs) and a firm trend in other Asian bourses, tracking overnight gains in the US markets, influenced the domestic trading sentiment, reports The Hindu Business Line.
Expectations that the GST (goods and serivces tax) Council might give some relief to some sectors by slashing the indirect tax rates at its meeting which begins today also supported the rebound, brokers said.
At 10.20 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 121.60 points or 0.37 per cent at 33,340.41 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 45.75 points or 0.44 per cent at 10,348.90.
Among BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables index gained the most by 1.67 per cent, followed by oil & gas 0.98 per cent, PSU 0.9 per cent and realty 0.74 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were HUL (+2.03%), State Bank of India (+2.02%), Reliance (+1.75%), Asian Paints (+1.64%) and Tata Steel (+1.36%), while the major losers were HDFC (-1.74%), PowerGrid (-1.22%), Coal India (-0.99%), ITC (-0.49%) and M&M (-0.31%).
Asia stocks hovered near a decade high on Thursday following another record breaking day on Wall Street, while the New Zealand dollar rallied as hawkish-sounding statements by the country's central bank boosted the recently battered currency.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.3 per cent and in close reach of a 10-year high set the previous day.
BBN/MMI/ANS