Stock markets open New Year on high note, Sensex up by 119 pts in early trade

Key stock indices Sensex and Nifty opened New Year on a positive te with investors betting on IT, auto and select banking and financial stocks.

benchmark BSE Sensex rose by 119.98 points or 0.25 per cent to 47,871.31 in early tre.

bro-based NSE Nifty breached 14,000 level by rising 38.60 points or 0.28 per cent to 14,020.35 in opening tre.

Led by Mahindra & Mahindra, auto stocks gained ahe of ir monthly sales data. M&M rose most among Sensex stocks by 2.3 per cent.

SBI, TCS, Infosys, Reliance, Larsen & Toubro and Bajaj Finance were among major gainers.

Titan, ICICI bank and Sun Pharma dropped due to profit booking.

FPIs have been a major driver of rally in Indian stock markets. According to exchange data, FPIs bought shares worth Rs 1,135.59 crore on a net basis on Thursday.

indices finished year 2020 with overall gains of around 15 per cent. Sensex gained 15.7 per cent while Nifty jumped 14.9 per cent in year.

US markets also closed COVID-19 pandemic-hit year with record highs on Thursday.

S&P 500 index finished with a gain of 16.3 per cent for year, Nasdaq composite soared 43.6 per cent, while Dow Jones Industrial Aver gained 7.2 per cent.