Sensex surges over 750 points; Nifty tops 21,900; NBCC, HUDCO jump up to 15%; Paytm dives 20%

Indian equity benchmarks surged in Friday's early trade amid strong global cues. The domestic indices were up today led by gains across all sectors. The 30-share BSE Sensex soared 767 points or 1.11 per cent to trade at 72,413, while the NSE Nifty was up 221 points or 1.02 per cent to trade at 21,918. Broader markets (mid- and small-cap shares) were also up as Nifty Midcap 100 climbed 0.39 per cent and small-cap gained 1 per cent.

BSE 500 stocks such as NBCC, HUDCO, IOB, IRB Infra, Abbott India, Central Bank and Lodha jumped up to 14.71 per cent. In contrast, Paytm, Max Healthcare, Godrej Agrovet, RITES, Bayer Corp and HFCL cracked up to 20 per cent.

On the global front, Wall Street equities closed higher overnight and Asian markets opened higher.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Rs 1,879.58 crore worth of shares on a net basis during the previous session and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased Rs 872.49 crore worth of shares, exchange data showed.

All 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty IT and Nifty PSU Bank were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 1.67 per cent, 1.60 per cent and 1.04 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Adani Ports was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock soared 3.99 per cent to trade at Rs 1,267.5. BPCL, Reliance Industries, Hero MotoCorp and PowerGrid rose up to 2.97 per cent.

In contrast, Eicher Motors, HDFC Life and Axis Bank were among the top losers on Nifty50.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,189 shares were advancing while 723 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, Reliance, ICICI Bank, Infosys, HDFC Bank, TCS, PowerGrid, NTPC, L&T and Bharti Airtel were among the top gainers.

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