Sensex, Nifty Climb On US Growth Optimism

(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened on a strong note Friday, as encouraging U.S. economic data and positive results from the Federal Reserve's annul stress tests of banks outweighed concerns over further policy tightening by major central banks.

The benchmark S&P/BSE Sensex was up 473 points, or 0.7 percent, at 64,388 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index was up 128 points, or 0.7 percent, at 19,100.

Infosys jumped 2.6 percent. Artificial intelligence-first business strategy adopted is working well for the company despite unresolved ethical and IPR issues around the technology, chairman Nandan Nilekani said at the company's 42nd AGM.

TCS gained about 1 percent after banning six employees and six business associate firms for violating ethical conduct in relation to the recruitment bribe case.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints and Power Grid Corp all rose about 2 percent while HDFC Life dropped 1 percent on profit taking after recent strong gains. Multi Commodity Exchange plummeted 10 percent after extending its license and maintenance contract with 63 Moons Technologies for six more months.

Zomato fell about 1 percent. Media reports suggest that Chris Wood of Jefferies is set to increase his investment in the food delivery platform Zomato by another percentage point.

L&T Technology Services climbed 1.1 percent after it joined hands with Palo Alto Networks to provide enterprises in diverse verticals with security services and solutions in 5G and Operations Technology (OT) areas.