Market opens firm, Sensex rises over 240 points, Nifty near 9,500

The key benchmark indices witnessed a firm note on Friday boosted by reports that the GST Council has backed the July-first deadline for rolling out the unified indirect tax that is supposed to build a single national market. At 10.20 am, the BSE Sensex, was up 244.07 points or 0.80% at 30,678.86, while the Nifty-50 index was up 69.65 points or 0.74 % at 9,499.10. The broader BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap indices added 0.82% and 1.10%, respectively. 

HUL and ITC were the star performers on Sensex, its stocks jumped up to 6 percent on the BSE. Grasim Industries Ltd rose 1.21 percent ahead of its quarter fourth March results to be announced today. Similarly, Tata Power Limited rose 0.72 percent on their earning results to be announced today. 

Nifty FMCG gained 4 percent as the leading sectoral gaining over 4%. Colgate Palmolive rose 6%, ITC rose 5.5%, Tata Global rose 3.5%. Bank of Baroda rallied over 4 percent after the bank reported a Q4 net profit of Rs 155 crore. 

The Indian rupee rises against the USD in the opening trade. It opened at 64.75 per dollar and was trading at 64.70 per dollar, up 0.25 percent from its Thursday’s close of 64.85.