Sensex jumps 242 points; Nifty crosses 7,800 level

Markets cheered the government's move to waive MAT on capital gains made by FIIs retrospectively with the benchmark BSE Sensex gaining 242 points in opening trade on buying by funds and retail investors.

The 30-share index rose by 242.93 points, or 0.94 per cent, to 25,939.37 points in early trade with all sectoral indices led by realty, consumer durables and capital goods trading in positive zone with gains up to 2.20 per cent.

The barometer had lost 695.94 points in the previous two sessions.
The wide-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange regained the 7,800-mark by surging 76.70 points, or 0.98 per cent to 7,862.55.

Markets recovered from yesterday's sharp losses after government decided to that MAT should not be imposed on overseas portfolio investors retrospectively, brokers said.

Major gainers were ITC Ltd (1.30 per cent), Sun Pharma (0.81 per cent), Axis Bank (0.80 per cent), Lupin (0.;74 per cent), TCS (0.64 per cent), RIL (0.61 per cent), Infosys (0.58 per cent), Wipro (0.21 per cent), HDFC Ltd (0.19 per cent) and Hindalco (0.07 per cent).

Among Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.79 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell by 0.99 per cent. Shanghai Composite was trading 1.34 per cent lower in early trade.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 2.84 per cent in yesterday's trade.