Stocks open in green ahead of Gujarat exit polls

Mumbai, December 14

The flagship Sensex opened in the green by jumping 117 points on Thursday on value-buying in blue-chips ahead of exit poll results for Gujarat election.

Asian stocks moved sideways.

The NSE Nifty went above 10,200-mark.

The 30-share BSE index was up 116.70 points, or 0.35 per cent, at 33,169.74. The Sensex had lost 402.75 in the previous two sessions disappointed by grim economic data and the ADB lowering India’s economic growth forecast.

Also, the NSE Nifty rose 37.70 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 10,230.65.

Analysts said optimistic buying by participants ahead of exit poll results for the assembly election of Gujarat later in the day had a bearing on mood.

In her final act as the Fed chair, Janet Yellen moved to hike rates to a range of 1.25 per cent to 1.5 per cent, citing solid US job growth and household spending. The central bank kept its policy outlook on additional increases for 2018 and 2019 unchanged.

Prominent gainers were Dr Reddy’s, ONGC, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Heromoto Corp and Lupin, rising up to 0.86 per cent.

All sectoral indices, including realty, consumer durables, oil and gas and metal stocks traded positive, with gains of up to 0.85 per cent.

Investors took their cue from another Wall Street record after an upbeat assessment of the US economy by the Federal Reserve.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up by 0.29 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.14 per cent and Shanghai Composite shed 0.20 per cent in early trade on Thursday.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.33 per cent higher on Wednesday. PTI