Nifty hits record peak in early trade; Bajaj Finance jumps 6%

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Friday, with the Nifty reaching its fresh all-time peak, following a rally in shares of Bajaj Finance and positive trends from the US markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 470.92 points to 75,082.03 in early trade. The NSE Nifty climbed 139.5 points to hit a record peak of 22,787.70.

From the Sensex basket, Bajaj Finance jumped 6 per cent, while Bajaj Finserv climbed nearly 5 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lifted restrictions on Bajaj Finance on sanctioning and disbursal of loans through eCOM and Insta EMI Card, the company said in a regulatory on Thursday.

In November last year, the central bank had directed Bajaj Finance to stop sanction and disbursal of loans under its two lending products -- eCOM and Insta EMI Card -- due to the company's non-adherence to the extant provisions of digital lending guidelines.

"The removal of restrictions on Bajaj Finance's eCOM adds to the upbeat market sentiment. Investors are eagerly awaiting the US jobs report for April and keeping an eye on Q4 corporate earnings from India Inc," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

NTPC, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel and JSW Steel were the other major gainers.

Bharti Airtel, Maruti, Asian Paints and Larsen & Toubro were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory while Shanghai quoted lower.

Wall Street ended with gains on Thursday.

"Global and domestic cues are positive for the markets. The decline in dollar index to 105.3, correction in the US 10-year bond yield to around 4.5 per cent and Brent crude below USD 84 a barrel will further strengthen the bulls.

"The strong pillar of support for this market is the strong buying by DIIs facilitated by the sustained flow of funds," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.33 per cent to USD 83.95 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 964.47 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark climbed 128.33 points or 0.17 per cent to settle at 74,611.11 on Thursday. The NSE Nifty went up by 43.35 points or 0.19 per cent to 22,648.20.