Early trading sees a spike in stock markets; the Sensex rises 156 points and the Nifty crosses 21,700 on upbeat global signals

Update on stock markets: Amidst encouraging global cues, Monday’s opening of the equities benchmark indexes was favorable. The 30-share BSE Sensex increased by 155.62 points to 72,181.77 in the early trading. The Nifty increased by 53.15 points to 21,763.95 points in the meanwhile.

Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, HCL Technologies, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, and Titan were the top gainers among the Sensex companies. Among the backward companies were NTPC, ITC, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Hindustan Unilever, and Bajaj Finance.

Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Seoul were selling at lower prices in Asian markets. On Friday, the US markets closed somewhat higher. The benchmark for world oil, Brent crude, fell 1.09 percent to USD 77.90 a barrel.

Rupee increases vs the dollar
In early trade on Monday, the rupee gained 9 paise to 83.06 versus the US dollar due to the infusion of foreign capital and bullish local equities markets. Forex traders said that the local currency was affected by the strong US dollar and the erratic crude oil prices.

The local currency rose 9 paise from its previous close to trade at 83.06 versus the US dollar in the first dealings at the interbank foreign exchange, having begun at 83.09 and hit 83.04 earlier.