Indian Stocks Rise on U.S Job Data Boost

Indian stock markets opened on a positive note and continued to trade in the green on Monday, boosted by unexpectedly healthy news from the U.S. jobs front that is widely seen as a sign of global economic recovery.

The U.S. economy has generated more jobs in January than what was expected, leaving hopes of a quicker recovery. The Sensex was trading at 17,716.84 up 111.88 points or 0.64 percent and the Nifty was trading at 5364.15 up 38.3 points or 0.72 percent as of 1:45 pm IST.

Cipla, Maruti Suzuki, Hindalco, Sterlite, SBI and DLF are among the prominent gainers in the Sensex pack, with gains between two and four percent. Tata Power (down 4.25 percent) was the top loser on the Nifty index after the company said its 4,000-MW Mundra UMPP (ultra mega power project) could become a non-performing asset if no decision was taken on increasing tariffs for electricity from the plant.

Of the13 sectoral indices 12 were trading in the positive territory. Realty, Metal, banks and automobile gained more than one percent, while OIL&GAS was in the negative. Realty was the big mover with 4.55 percent with DB Realty, Unitech and HDIL surging more than four percent.

Metals sector was shining with a 2.27 percent gain, led by top gainers JSW Steel Industries, NMDC and Bhushan Steel.