Opening bell: Sensex rises 513 points to 58,579, Nifty up 155 points to 17,429

Equity benchmark indices began the trade on a positive note on Thursday amid fresh foreign capital inflows and mixed trends in Asian markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 513.29 points to 58,578.76 in early trade. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 154.5 points to 17,428.80.

Among the 30-share Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, HCL Technologies, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Maruti and Axis Bank were among the winners.

However, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, Hindustan Unilever and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the laggards.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul and Tokyo were trading higher, while Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted lower.

The US markets ended marginally lower on Wednesday.

The domestic equity markets were closed on Wednesday for the Dussehra festival.

In the previous session on Tuesday, the BSE benchmark had jumped 1,276.66 points or 2.25 per cent to settle at 58,065.47. The Nifty rallied 386.95 points or 2.29 per cent to end at 17,274.30.

FIIs and DIIs (Domestic Institutional Investors) turning net buyers in Tuesday’s trade coupled with the US dollar index softening against major currencies could help sustain the buying momentum, according to Prashanth Tapse – Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude futures climbed 0.13 per cent to 93.49 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers as they bought shares worth ₹1,344.63 crore on Tuesday, according to data available with BSE.