By IANS,
Mumbai : Indian equities markets witnessed a smart bull rally Friday morning, backed by strong gains in global bourses. By about noon, a key index was propelled firmly into the green, ruling 3.41 percent higher than its last closing figure.
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensitive Index (Sensex) opened at 8,480.74 points, higher than its 8,343.75 point close Thursday and was at 8,628.03 points, 3.41 percent or 284.10 points higher than its previous close.
Similarly, the S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was at 2,688.8 points, 2.73 percent up from its last close of 2,617.45.
The BSE midcap index was 2.23 percent higher than its previous close, while the BSE smallcap index was also up 1.42 percent.
All the 13 sectoral indices on the BSE were in positive terrain with the indices for realty and banking stocks gaining the most.
Among the gainers on the Sensex were DLF, up 8.07 percent at Rs.147.90; ICICI Bank, up 7.67 percent at Rs.306.05; Sterlite, up 5.61 percent at Rs.276.90; and Tata Steel, up 5.55 percent at Rs.164.60.
There were only two losers on the Sensex: NTPC, down 1.18 percent at Rs.171.70; and Bharti Airtel, down 0.12 percent at Rs.549.65.
In other Asian markets, Tokyo stocks closed higher Thursday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average soared 371.03 points, to close at 7,569.28 points.
The Hang Seng, a key index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, was ruling 3.59 percent above its last close at 12,431.97 points.
In US, Wall Street continued its three-day rally with the three major indices up about four percent Thursday led by General Electric (GE) and Bank of America shares.
General Electric gained 13 percent to $9.57 per share after it said a cut in its credit rating was unlikely to impact business, and Bank of America picked up 19 percent to $5.85.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average added 3.5 percent, or 239.66 points, to 7,170.06. The broader Standard and Poor’s 500 Index added 29.38 points, or 4.1 percent, to 750.74 points, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 54.46 points, or four percent, to end trade at 1,426.10.