Sensex leaps 580 points on firm global cues; Nifty tops 9,300

NEW DELHI: Domestic equity indices witnessed a gap-up start to Monday's trading session, mirroring gains in global peers which jumped on stimulus from Japanese central bank.

The Bank of Japan matched market speculation by pledging to buy unlimited amounts of government bonds, removing its previous target of 80 trillion yen per year.

At 9.22 am, BSE flagship Sensex was up 580 points or 1.85 per cent to 31,907 while NSE benchmark Nifty added 159 points or 1.74 per cent to 9,313. Broader market indices were faring in-line with their headline peers as Nifty Smallcap gained 1.54 per cent while Nifty Midcap jumped 1.68 per cent. Nifty 500 was up 1.79 per cent.

Among bluechip stocks, IndusInd Bank was the biggest gainer, up about 3 per cent to Rs 394.80 ahead of its quarterly numbers scheduled to come out later in the day. Meanwhile Reliance Industries, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC, Tech Mahindra and Sun Pharma rose more than 2 per cent.

PowerGrid was the only loser in the 30-share pack Sensex, down 0.31 per cent to Rs 158.85.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, which declared earnings over the weekend, hit the upper circuit in the opening tick, jumping 10 per cent to Rs 370.15.

All sectors on NSE traded with gains. Nifty Realty was the biggest gainer, up 2.28 per cent while Nifty Auto, Nifty Pharma and Nifty IT gained 2 per cent each.

Globally, Asian shares bounced as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced more stimulus steps to help cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus, while oil took another spill as the world ran short of space to store it all.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.2 per cent in early trade, taking back some of last week's 2.6 per cent decline. Japan's Nikkei gained 2.1 per cent, and Chinese blue chips 1 per cent.

E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.4 per cent, while EUROSTOXX 50 futures added 1.8 per cent and FTSE futures 1.2 per cent.