Sensex rises by 158 pts in opening trade on global cues

The 30-share index gained 158.10 points, or 0.91 per cent at 17,347.41 points on the back of rally in heavyweight stocks. It had gained 64.09 points on Thursday.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty surged by 42.85 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 5,177.50 points.
Brokers said sentiments on the domestic bourses remained bullish on the back of buying by foreign funds on positive global cues.

Country's most valued firm Reliance Industries surged 0.93 per cent to Rs 1,080.50, while Reliance Infra gained 1.12 per cent to Rs 1,074.50 on funds based buying.

Other gainers were RCom by 1.97 per cent to Rs 189.35, Infosys by 0.70 per cent to Rs 2,461.70, Wipro by 0.76 per cent to Rs 653.40, Sterlite up by 1.17 per cent to Rs 850.80, Tata Steel by 1.20 per cent to Rs 555.20, DLF Ltd 1.75 per cent to Rs 392.90 and SBI by 0.98 per cent to Rs 2,318.25.

The Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.80 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei gained 1.50 per cent in the morning trade. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.67 per cent higher yesterday as reductions in US jobless claims boosted confidence that an economic expansion is increasing.