Sensex jumps 300 pts to record high of 52,450 in early trade, Nifty tops 15,400

Indian equity indices opened in green on Tuesday with the 30-share BSE Sensex advancing over 300 to touch an all-time high while the broader Nifty jumped more than 100 points to top 15,400 in early trade.

At 9:38am, Sensex was up 310.39 points or 0.6% to trade at 52,464.52 while Nifty zoomed 106.60 points or 0.70% to 15,421.30.

Early gains were led by HDFC twins Infosys and RIL .Kotak Bank, up about 1.6%, was the top Sensex gainer followed by ONGC, IndusInd Bank, SBI and TechM. Of 30 Sensex, 28 were in the green at open.

The rally comes a day after the government released data, according to which the wholesale price-based inflation rose sharply to 2.03% in January on costlier non-food manufactured items. Experts have projected a further uptick in the rate of price rise in the next few months. The WPI inflation was 1.22% in December, 2020 and 3.52% in January last year.

Later in the day, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a post-Budget meeting of the Reserve Bank of India’s central board to outline the highlights of the Union Budget 2021-22, presented by her earlier this month. She will also discuss the roadmap to fiscal consolidation.

In the previous session on Monday, Sensex closed 610 points or 1.18 per cent higher at 52,154 and the Nifty rallied 151 points or 1% to end at 15,315.

Other Asian shares too advanced on Tuesday, putting world equities on course to extend their bull run for a 12th consecutive session as optimism about the global economic recovery and expectations of low interest rates drive investments into riskier assets.

Meanwhile, oil prices soared to a 13-month high as a deep freeze due to a severe snowstorm in the United States not only boosted power demand but also threatened oil production in Texas.