Firm start for Sensex, gains 250 pts on US cues; all eyes on Chinese data

Equity markets made a firm start on the last trading session of the week, bolstered by overnight gains in the US markets, with the benchmark Sensex surging over 250 points amid recovery across the broader market. At 10.10 am, the 30-share BSE S&P Sensex was at 25,799.18, up 177.01 points, or 0.7 percent from the previous close. A short while earlier, the index rose to a high of 25,875.96 before trimming some gains. [caption id=“attachment_2429736” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] The broader 50-stock CNX Nifty was at 7,840.30, up 52.20 points, or 0.7 percent. Market breadth stood firm with 1,288 stocks advancing against 357 declines on the BSE. In other US markets, key gauges ended with gains of around 1 percent each, while in Asia, Hang Seng was up 0.9 percent and Japan’s Nikkei exhibited a flattish trend. According to a Reuters report, US data on Thursday suggested the labour market was gaining momentum in early September as fewer Americans filed for weekly unemployment benefits, but a separate report showed weak inflation, further clouding the outlook for what the Fed will decide to do at its September 16-17 policy meeting. Despite the early optimism, traders remain sceptical about the sustainability as high amount of intra-day volatility continues to keep investors at bay. Also, investors would be taking a cautious stance ahead of Chinese industrial output, retail sales and investment data to be announced on Sunday, which will give a sense of whether the world’s second-largest nation is continuing to lose momentum. Select frontline stocks logged gains which helped Sensex stay afloat in early trade. Shares of SBI rose 2.1 percent to Rs 232.35, Vedanta gained 1.8 percent to Rs 101.45, Axis Bank moved up 1.5 percent to Rs 490.30, ONGC added 1.3 percent to Rs 229.50 and HDFC was up 1.1 percent at Rs 1,177.50.’ Other gainers such as Wipro, Infosys, M&M, Dr Reddy’s, ITC, Hindalco and Maruti were up around a percent each.