SENSEX surges over 500 points, NIFTY50 above 24,200 led by gains in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap up opening on Thursday, August 20, mirroring gains in global markets. The SENSEX rose as much as 585 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 24,225 led by gains in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Eternal and Axis Bank.

As of 9:24 am, the SENSEX was up 487 points at 77,396 and NIFTY50 index gained 115 points to 24,192.

Asian markets were trading higher on Thursday tracking an overnight surge in US stocks. Japan's Nikkei rose 1.06%, China's Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.3%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.7% and South Korea's KOSPI index climbed 5.86%.

US stocks ended higher on Wednesday after the US Treasury Department announced a move that could ease pressure coming from the bond market.

Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.22%, S&P 500 index advanced 0.21% and tech heavy Nasdaq rose 0.16%.

Back home, buying interest was visible across board as all the 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the NIFTY IT index's over 1% gain. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, Metal, Pharma, PSU Bank, Private bank, Realty and Consumer Durables indices also rose between 0.3% and 0.7%.

Broader markets were also witnessing buying interest as NIFTY Midcap 100 index rose 0.5% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.7%.

Among the individual shares, Tega Industries rose as much as 6.35% to hit an intraday high of ₹1,838 after the company informed exchanges that its board will meet on August 22 to consider raising funds by issuing shares of the company on preferential basis.

Eternal was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 2.5% to ₹328.

Shriram Finance, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Wipro, TCS, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech and Hindustan Unilever also rise between 0.88% and 2.25%.

On the flip side, Hindalco, ONGC, Coal India, Max Healthcare, NTPC, Apollo Hospitals, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries and Sun Pharma were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,298 shares were advancing while 726 were declining on the NSE.