Sensex rises over 300 points, Nifty firm above 25,000 led by metal shares

The Indian equity benchmarks surged on Thursday ahead of weekly expiry of Nifty futures and option contracts amid strong global cues. The Sensex rose as much as 428 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 25,059.65. Most of the Asian markets were trading higher taking cues from strong closing of US markets. Japan's Nikkei surged 3.25 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.93 per cent, Australia's S&P ASX 200 gained 0.8 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI advanced 1.72 per cent.

Overnight, S&P 500 index closed higher on Wednesday with a boost from the technology sector offsetting investor disappointment at the early morning inflation report, which crushed hopes the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates by 50 basis points next week.

The S&P 500 technology index reversed course and rallied after opening lower with a big boost from AI chipmaker Nvidia, up 6.3 per cent. Semafor reported that the US government is considering letting Nvidia export advanced chips to Saudi Arabia.

S&P 500 gained 56.42 points, or 1.03 per cent, to end at 5,551.94 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 365.06 points, or 2.14 per cent, to 17,390.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 101.43 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 40,838.39.

Back home, buying was visible across board as all the 13 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the Nifty Metal index's 1.4 per cent gain. Nifty PSU Bank, Pharma, Healthcare, IT, Bank, FMCG, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices also rose 0.5-1.2 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.95 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index climbed 0.66 per cent.

Tata Steel was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 2.15 per cent to Rs 151. Shriram Finance, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, Tech Mahindra , Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC, Wipro , Divi's Labs and State Bank of India and Hindalco also rose between 1-1.8 per cent.

On the flipside, Asian Paints , Tata Motors, Nestle India and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the notable losers.