SENSEX surges over 450 points, NIFTY50 above 23,550 led by gains in ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap up opening on Thursday, May 14, ahead of weekly expiry of SENSEX futures and option contracts. The SENSEX surged as much as 471 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 23,589 powered by gains in ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, NTPC and Adani Ports.

As of 9:35 am, the SENSEX was 395 points at 75,003 and NIFTY50 index advanced 137 points to 23,547.

Most of the Asian markets were trading mixed as crude oil traded above $105 per barrel. Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.15%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.8% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.74%.

Overnight, major US benchmark indices ended at record highs, even though the majority of US stocks fell following another discouraging update on inflation.

Tech heavy Nasdaq advanced 1.2% to close at record high of 26,402.34, Dom Jones Industrial Average declined 0.14% and S&P 500 index fell 0.58%.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth ₹4,703.15 crore on Wednesday while domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth ₹5,869.05 crore, as per NSE data.

FIIs have so far this year sold shares worth ₹2,16,210 crore, data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) showed.

10 of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the NIFTY Metal index's 1.8% gain. NIFTY Pharma, Healthcare, PSU Bank, Private Bank, Bank and Financial Services indices also rose between 0.4% and 1%.

On the flip side, IT, auto and media shares were facing selling pressure.

Broader markets were trading on a mixed note as NIFTY Midcap 100 index advanced 0.2% while NIFTY Smallcap 100 index declined 0.16%.

Cipla was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 5.7% to ₹1,403. Adani Enterprises, Hindalco, JSW Steel, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Apollo Hospitals and NTPC also rose between 1.19% and 5%.

On the contrary, HCL Tech, TCS, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Shriram Finance, Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki, IndiGo and Dr Reddy's Labs were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,571 shares were trading higher while 1,233 were declining on the NSE.