Stock markets surge in early trade tracking rally in global peers, RBI's jumbo rate cut

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty surged in early trade on Monday tracking a rally in global markets and upbeat investors' sentiment following the Reserve Bank's jumbo rate cut of 50 basis points.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 480.01 points to 82,669 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty surged 157.05 points to 25,160.10.

From the Sensex firms, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Maruti, Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra and Bajaj Finance were the biggest gainers.

However, Bharti Airtel, Eternal, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports and Tata Steel were the laggards.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were trading in the positive territory.

US markets ended sharply higher on Friday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,009.71 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

"The monetary bazooka fired by the RBI on Friday will keep the market spirits alive in the near-term. But this is not sufficient to sustain the rally triggered on Friday. More important is the trend in earnings growth. Q4 results indicate better earnings growth for midcaps. But large and small caps continue to struggle," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.11 per cent to USD 66.40 a barrel.

"Nifty bulls are back in action after the RBI surprised with a jumbo 50 bps rate cut, igniting hopes of an economic boost and lower EMIs for the common man. This move, along with Wall Street’s rally above the 6,000 mark and renewed US-China trade optimism, has triggered a wave of buying," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

On Friday, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended the day higher by 746.95 points or 0.92 per cent at 82,188.99. The Nifty reclaimed the 25,000-level and climbed 252.15 points or 1.02 per cent to settle at 25,003.05.