Sensex jumps 440 points in early trade amid positive global trends

Mumbai: Bolstered by positive global cues, Indian equity market opened on a strong note on Wednesday and Sensex jumped 440 points in early trade.

Asian markets, including Japan and Hong Kong, were trading in the green.

US and European markets on Tuesday ended their trading sessions with gains as latest inflation data from the US indicated that price pressure might be easing.

On Wednesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex surged 440.04 points or 0.76 per cent to 58,340.23 points while the broader NSE Nifty rose 109.60 points or 0.64 per cent to 17,152.90 points.

As many as 28 constituents of Sensex, including Maruti Suzuki, TCS and Reliance, were trading in the positive territory while in the Nifty pack, 45 scrips gained.

Domestic stocks have taken a beating in recent days. Sensex tumbled 2,447 points or 4.1 per cent while Nifty tanked 711 points or 4.6 per cent in the four days to Tuesday.

In a pre-market note, Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, on Wednesday said Indian markets could open higher, in line with positive Asian markets today and sharply higher US markets on Tuesday.

"US stocks ended sharply higher in volatile trade on Tuesday, rebounding from their steep losses in the aftermath of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, as investors digested February inflation data which matched estimates and suggested pressure on prices may be easing," he said.

On Tuesday, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net sellers as they offloaded domestic equities worth Rs 3,086.96 crore, as per exchange data.

In February, the US consumer price index came in largely in line with expectations at 6 per cent, down from 6.4 per cent a month earlier.

"There might be some hope the February data -- combined with the interest rate pressures on banks -- could convince the US Federal Reserve to stop rate hikes altogether. Other market observers are split on the idea and say a 25 basis point increase could be the more likely result," Jasani said.