Sensex gains over 1,100 points, Nifty rises more than 350 points to trade above 16,500
Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty rebounded over 2 per cent in opening trade on Friday in line with higher Asian bourses as investors assessed long-term risks of the Ukraine conflict.
The BSE Sensex climbed 1,140.58 points or 2.09 per cent to trade at 55,670.49 in opening deals, and the NSE Nifty traded higher by 344.10 points or 2.12 per cent at 16,592.05. On the Sensex chart, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj FinServ and SBI emerged as top gainers -- rising as much as 6 per cent.
On Thursday, the Sensex crashed over 2,700 points -- its biggest single-day plunge in about two years; and the Nifty nosedived 815 points. The bloodbath on Dalal Street plunged investor wealth by over Rs 13 lakh crore.
Spooked by the Ukraine crisis, foreign institutional investors further offloaded shares worth Rs 6,448.24 crore in the Indian capital markets on Thursday, exchange data showed.
Asian shares were higher on Friday, driven by a rebound in US equities as more sanctions were announced against Russia for its actions in Ukraine.
Anuj Gaur, Director of IBBM, said that every country's economy is connected to each other due to the globalization factor. "Any war escalation will keep a direct impact on the Indian economy also. Though Sensex is up and rebound today to certain points it will be in fear until the situation becomes normal. On the other side, it is always good to invest in Bootstrapping manner in high quality blue-chip stocks where you invest a certain amount on every fall and take the advantage of tentative fall."
Ravi Singhal, Vice Chairman, GCL Securities Limited, said, "The US has said that NATO will not go to Ukraine. SWIFT sanction also not applied. Besides, the energy sector is outside of sanctions... These are the main reasons for the market's upward direction. Investors can invest here and below levels also. The stop loss should be around 16,000 for short term investors and in long term, we will see Nifty at 20,000 very early."
Meanwhile, the US, EU and Japan are putting on a united front to support Ukraine and agreed on a second tranche of economic and financial sanctions on Russia.
Oil prices, which jumped after the Russian invasion on Ukraine, rose again on Friday on worries about supply disruptions. Brent crude futures were up 2 per cent at USD 101.20 a barrel.
With PTI Inputs
