MUMBAI: 9.26 am: Sensex and Nifty were up 280 points and 86.35 points at 25,996 and 7,877.
Domestic equity markets opened higher on Thursday tracking firm trading in rest of the Asian markets. The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty opened 422.37 points and 129.75 points higher at 26,137.03 and 7,921.60, respectively.
All the sectoral indices on the Bombay Stock Exchange opened in green. Realty stocks were up over 2.5 percent.
Alex Mathews, head research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, said “Short covering is expected on Thursday due to August F&O expiry.”
According to SMC Global Securities, Asian stocks rose on Thursday as a sharp rebound on Wall Street helped soothe investors’ tattered nerves, while the dollar rallied as risk aversion eased. Overnight, U.S. stocks rallied on expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold off from hiking interest rates next month due to mounting global uncertainties, including China the very factors that prompted heavy selling in the previous sessions.
Shares of Bharti Airtel and Sun TV Network will remain in focus on Thursday. Bharti Airtel after market hours on Wednesday announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent equity stake in Augere Wireless Broadband India (Augere), which holds 20 MHz of BWA spectrum in the telecom circles of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Bharti Airtel was trading 2.08 percent higher at Rs 346.80 in the early trade.
Sun TV Network after market hours on Thursday said that it has partnered with HOOQ, Asia’s biggest premium video-on-demand service in a multi-year deal. Sun TV shares were up 1.06 percent at Rs 329.20 a piece.
On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty closed over 1 percent lower at 25,715 and 7,792, respectively.
As per provisional figures, foreign institutional investors (FIIs)/ Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) sold shares worth net Rs 2,345.77 crore August 26 while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1,881.08 crore.
Global Markets
New York: Wall Street racked up its biggest one-day gain in four years on Wednesday as fears about China’s economy gave way to bargain hunters emboldened by expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve might not raise interest rates next month.
London: Britain’s top share index sank on Wednesday, not far from its lowest closing levels since the end of 2012, as fears about Chinese growth gnawed and commodities sell-off rattled markets across Europe.
Tokyo: Japan’s Nikkei share average rose on Thursday after a strong rebound on Wall Street eased investors’ fears of a prolonged global market rout.
Hong Kong: The Hang Seng Index was up 2.31 percent.
