Sensex jumps 258 points; Nifty reclaims 15,000 level

Robust global markets, along with healthy foreign fund inflows, aided India`s benchmark equity indices to end higher for the second straight session on Thursday.

The two key indices had a gap up opening but later remained in a broad positive range.

At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 258 points or 0.51 per cent at 51,039 while the Nifty 50 ticked up by 115 points or 0.77 per cent to 15,097.Apart from Nifty FMCG and financial service, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive terrain with Nifty metal gaining by 3.9 per cent and PSU bank by 1.1 per cent.

Among stocks, Coal India moved up by 8.6 per cent to Rs 156.90 per share and UPL ticked higher by 7.3 per cent to Rs 594.50.Adani Ports was up by 6 per cent, Hindalco by 5.1 per cent, ONGC by 4.5 per cent and Tata Motors by 3.7 per cent.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries jumped by 4.2 per cent to Rs 2,147 per share. Bharti Airtel rose by 1 per cent after the company said it had raised 1.25 billion dollars through debt instruments. However, ICICI Bank dipped by 1.9 per cent while infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro was down by 1 per cent. 

FMCG stocks also did not fare well with Nestle India down by 1.4 per cent and Hindustan Unilever by 0.7 per cent. Meanwhile, Asian stocks jumped after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed interest rates will stay low for a long time. 

That calmed market fears that higher inflation may prompt the central bank to tighten the monetary spigot. Japan`s Nikkei gained by 1.7 per cent while Hong Kong`s Hang Seng jumped by 1.5 per cent to pare more than half of its previous day`s losses following the announcement of a stamp duty hike.

(With inputs from agencies)