Sensex soars as February F&O series takes off in style

The benchmark BSE Sensex rallied about 154 points to 24,623.56 in early session on Friday on fresh buying push from investors as the February derivatives series was off to a solid start amid positive Asian cues.

The 30-share Sensex, which lost 22.82 points in the previous choppy session, recouped 153.99 points, or 0.62 per cent, at 24,623.56.

Except banking, all sectoral indices of BSE led by consumer durables, metal and oil and gas were in the positive zone, rising by up to 1.85 per cent.

The NSE Nifty jumped 54.35 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 7,479.

Brokers said build-up of bets following the beginning of the February futures and options (F&O) series led to the rebound.

A firming trend at other Asian markets led by Japan after the Bank of Japan surprised markets by announcing a negative interest rate policy buoyed sentiment here too, they said.

However, shares of ICICI Bank and Maruti Suzuki fell 3.86 per cent 1.72 per cent, respectively, dragged down by muted third quarter earnings announced after trading hours yesterday.

Japan’s Nikkei climbed 3.21 per cent, Shanghai Composite rose 2 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 2.05 per cent in early trade.

The US markets ended 0.79 per cent higher in yesterday’s trade on higher oil prices and strong corporate earnings.

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Sensex down 100 points in early trade on profit-booking

The benchmark BSE Sensex fell by over 100 points in early trade today due to profit-booking by investors, after recent gains amid weak cues from Asian markets.

The 30-share barometer fell by 100.77 points or 0.39 per cent to 25,703.01, with indices of IT, auto, consumer durable, metal and bank leading the fall.

The index had gained 759.35 points in the last four sessions.

Also, the NSE Nifty was trading lower by 35.10 points or 0.44 per cent at 7,809.35.

Brokers said that apart from profit-booking in recent gainers, weak trend at other Asian bourses, tracking overnight losses at the US markets, mainly influenced the sentiment.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was quoting lower by 0.23 per cent and Shanghai Composite was down 0.12 per cent in early trade. Japan’s Nikkei shed 0.24 per cent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.43 per cent lower in yesterday’s trade.

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