Sensex Rises Over 150 points, Nifty Above 12,250 As Markets Build On Previous Day's Gains

The domestic stock markets have continued from where they left on the previous day, thanks to easing geo-political tensions and the resultant return of stability across the global markets. The BSE Sensex has gained 132 points or 0.3 per cent at 41,585 and the Nifty has added 39 points or 0.3 per cent at 12,257. The broader markets are also moving in tandem with the frontliners; the BSE Midcap index has gained 0.2 per cent at 15,136 and the BSE Smallcap index has added 0.4 per cent at 14,146.

The Asian benchmark indices, including Hang Seng, Nikkei and Straits Times, are trading marginally in the green this morning post the strong rally witnessed on Thursday ahead of the latest reading on the U.S. labor market. The Asian markets had climbed to a fresh record on Thursday due to de-escalation in US-Iran tensions.

The major U.S. stock indexes had also registered record closing highs in the previous session in wake of the thaw on US-Iran front. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had ended up 211.81 points, or 0.74 per cent, to 28,956.90, Nasdaq Composite Index rose 74.18 points, or 0.81 per cent, to 9,203.43 and S&P 500 increased 21.65 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 3,274.70.

U.S. President Donald Trump had refrained from ordering military action and Iran's foreign minister said the missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing the U.S. forces had "concluded". Optimism surrounding the US-China trade deal also added to the positive sentiment on Wall Street.

In the meantime, the rupee opened flat at 71.21 per dollar on Friday against the previous close of 71.21.

The NSE's India VIX index - which gauges the markets' expectation of volatility in the near term - ended 10.16 per cent lower on Thursday - this decline signals the return of stability in the markets and spells good news for the market participants, say analysts.

"There was some panic and fears from global market which is fading out... domestic cues are also not that negative, in fact they are improving," said Shrikant Chouhan, technical analyst at Kotak Securities.

In major news developments scheduled for the day, the Supreme Court will hear Tata Sons' petition challenging National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's (NCLAT) decision reinstating Cyrus Mistry as executive chairman of the Tata Group. Tata Sons Private Limited had last week moved the SC against NCLAT's order, saying the judgement 'undermined corporate democracy' and the 'rights' of its board of directors.

On the corporate results front, the country's second-largest software services provider, Infosys will kick off the Q3 earnings season by announcing its results later in the day.

On Thursday, the Sensex had ended 634.61 points - or 1.55 per cent - higher at 41,452.35, while the Nifty had settled at 12,215.90 - up 190.55 points - or 1.58 per cent.

The top percentage gainers on the BSE are Sun Pharma, Kotak Bank and HDFC Bank, which have gained around 1 pert cent each.

The IT stocks have also opened strong ahead of the Infosys result scheduled later in the day. Infosys, the bellweather information technology stock, has gained 1.2 per cent at Rs 736. HCL and Tech Mahindra, the other IT names, have also gained up 1 per cent each. TCS is however, trading flat at Rs 2,217.

Banking stocks are bucking the positive trend this morning. IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank have lost between half a percent and 1 per cent each.