Sensex rallies nearly 500 points in early trade; Nifty tops 14,400

Equity benchmark Sensex rallied nearly 500 points in early trade on Tuesday tracking strong gains in index majors Reliance Industries, HDFC and Infosys amid a positive trend in global markets.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 485.97 points or 1 per cent higher at 49,050.24.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty surged 134.05 points or 0.94 per cent to 14,415.35.

Bajaj Finance was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 2 per cent, followed by SBI, ONGC, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC and Axis Bank.

On the other hand, ITC and HDFC Bank were the laggards.

In the previous session, Sensex ended 470.40 points or 0.96 per cent lower at 48,564.27, while Nifty tumbled 152.40 points or 1.06 per cent to 14,281.30.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 650.60 crore on Monday, as per exchange data.

According to Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities, domestic equities look to be good at the moment. A sharp pullback for the last two trading days clearly indicates profit booking by the investors ahead of key events including the Union Budget.

"However, we still believe that any meaningful correction will be bought out as underlying fundamentals of the market remain intact," he said.

Huge fiscal stimulus in the US, persistently soft monetary policies of global bankers, weak dollar and better-than-expected earnings growth by corporate should continue to ensure favourable FPI flow into domestic markets, Modi added.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo were trading with significant gains, while Shanghai was in the red.

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.44 per cent higher at USD 54.99 per barrel.