Sensex jumps over 300 points, Nifty tops 21,600; Torrent Power, Adani Total Gas surge up to 6%

Indian equity benchmarks traded higher in Thursday's early trade, led by gains in technology, financials and consumer stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack rose 326 points or 0.46 per cent to trade at 71,683, while the NSE Nifty moved 85 points or 0.40 per cent up to trade at 21,602. Broader market (mid- and small-cap) shares were also positive as Nifty Midcap 100 climbed 0.81 per cent and small-cap gained 0.70 per cent.

On the global front, Asian markets opened higher. Overnight, Wall Street equities fell.

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Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Rs 666.34 crore of shares on a net basis during the previous session and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) offloaded Rs 862.98 crore of stocks, exchange data showed.

14 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty IT, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Consumer Durables were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.88 per cent, 0.76 per cent, 0.64 per cent and 0.44 per cent, respectively. Nifty Media, however, shed 0.21 per cent.

On the stock-specific front, Bajaj Finance was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock jumped 3.63 per cent to trade at Rs 7,653. Bajaj Finserv, Adani Ports, NTPC and Infosys climbed up to 2.67 per cent.

In contrast, BPCL, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Bajaj Auto and Dr Reddy's Labs were among the top laggards.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,377 shares were advancing while 630 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, index heavyweights such as Bajaj Finance, Infosys, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and L&T were among the top gainers.

Also, Torrent Power, Adani Total Gas, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Sobha and Kaynes jumped up to 5.93 per cent. On the flipside, PVR Inox, Sun Pharma Advanced, VST Industries, Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum and BPCL slipped up to 2.57 per cent.

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