Sensex rises over 150 pts; Nifty tests 11,700

The benchmark BSE Sensex jumped over 150 points in early trade on Wednesday (May 22), led by gains in oil and gas, banking and IT stocks, ahead of the general election results.

The 30-share index was trading 157.51 points, or 0.40 per cent, higher at 39,127.31.

In similar movement, the broader NSE Nifty rose 30.90 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 11,740.

In the previous session, the Sensex ended 382.87 points, or 0.97 per cent, lower at 38,969.80, and the Nifty plunged 119.15 points, or 1.01 per cent, to 11,709.10.

Top Sensex gainers in morning trade include Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, RIL, HDFC twins, Tata Motors, ONGC, Infosys, Maruti and Kotak Bank, rising up to 1.38 per cent.

On the other hand, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, ITC, HUL, Bajaj Finance and Tata Steel fell up to 2.84 per cent.

According to experts, investor sentiment turned positive this week after most exit polls forecast a win for Narendra Modi-led NDA. The results of the seven-phase polls will come out may 23.

Continued foreign fund inflow too buoyed market mood here, traders said.

Foreign institutional investors bought equity worth Rs 1,185.44 crore on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors sold shares to the tune of Rs 1,090.32 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in China, Japan and Korea were trading on a mixed note in their respective early sessions.

Benchmarks on Wall Street ended in the green on Tuesday.

On the currency front, the rupee appreciated 4 paise to 69.67 against the US dollar in opening trade Wednesday.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading at 71.81 per barrel, lower by 0.51 per cent.