By IANS
Mumbai : Indian equity markets opened with a sizeable gain of over 300 points Thursday on the back of strong cues from Asian peers, with stocks of power, realty and metal companies leading the rally in initial trades.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 17,265.19 points with a gain of 316.05 over Wednesday’s day’s close and the broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) started some 15 points higher at 4,944.65.
An hour into trading, the Sensex was up by 606.75 points, or 3.58 percent, while Nifty was trading with a gain of over 200 points, data available with the two premier bourses showed.
The market breadth was also strong, with 1,350 stocks on the BSE registering advances, compared with the 486 that declined, while 26 remained unchanged.
Reliance Industries led the gainers with a rise of 4.82 percent at Rs.2,405, while Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s Reliance Power, which debuted on the stock markets Feb 11, rose 2.05 percent at Rs.358.60.
The other top Sensex gainers were Hindustan Unilever, Bharat Heavy Electricals, DLF and HDFC bank at the initial trade.
Other Asian markets were also trading higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 3.05 percent, Japan’s Nikkei gained 2.79 percent, Taiwan Weighted rose 2.93 percent, Singapore’s Straits Times advanced by 2.91 percent and Seoul Composite was up 2.55 percent.