Indian equity benchmarks S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 began Monday's session in the green amid gains across sectors tracking positive moves across global markets. Financial, IT and FMCG shares were the biggest contributors to the rise in both headline indices.

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The 30-scrip index rose as much as 336.7 points or 0.6 per cent to touch 60,237.1 at the strongest level in the first few minutes of trade after starting the day up 246.6 points or 0.4 per cent at 60,147. The Nifty50 climbed to as high as 17,963.2, up 103.8 points or 0.6 per cent, having opened just above the 17,950 mark. 

A total of 43 stocks in the Nifty50 basket moved higher in early deals. Hindalco, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank and UPL were the top gainers, trading around 1-2 per cent higher. 

Titan was the top laggard, trading 2.1 per cent lower. HDFC Life, ICICI Bank and Hindustan Unilever were some of the other worst-hit blue-chip stocks, falling up to half a per cent each.

Reliance, TCS, Infosys and the HDFC twins were the biggest boosts for both main gauges, contributing almost 200 points to the rise in Sensex. 

​Overall market breadth favoured the bulls, with an advance-decline ratio of 4:1 as 2,121 stocks rose and 473 fell in morning deals on BSE. 

"All data point to a strong but cooling US economy which indicates the rising possibility of a soft landing... The data points to cooling inflation and the possibility of the Fed going less hawkish in 2023. The market has already started discounting this... All signals are bullish," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Global markets

Equities in other Asian markets rallied as hopes for less steep rate hikes in the US bolstered the outlook for the world economy. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 1.9 per cent at the last count. 

China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.5 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 1.6 per cent. The Japanese market was shut for a holiday.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.2 per cent, suggesting a positive start ahead on Wall Street. On Friday, the three main US indices surged 2.1-2.6 per cent after data showed a bigger-than-expected increase in December payrolls, easing worries about the Fed's interest rate hiking path.