Sensex surges while Asian markets continue Wall Street’s rally, FTSE 100 high on commodity prices

Indian indices opened on new record highs following the rally in Asian and US peers. Sensex opened over 300 points up while Nifty is above 16,800.

Asian stocks started the week on a positive note following the Wall Street rally after the Fed chairman’s morale-boosting comments last week.

Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s Kospi started off with gains while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite began flat.

Wall Street rallied on Friday, with the three major indexes closing the session and the week higher - hitting record closing for the fourth time this week. The rally came after the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks at the Jackson Hole Symposium calmed fears over the tapering timetable and sent investors into the weekend in a buying mood.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6 per cent while the S&P 500 rose 0.8 per cent to hit a new high and closed. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.2 per cent, also hitting a new record during the session.

London’s FTSE 100 rose on Friday boosted by energy and metal stocks with the help of strong commodity prices. Meanwhile, a boost in the US markets and Fed’s stance on tapering also relieved investors.

The FTSE 100 ended 0.3 per cent higher with BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Anglo American and Rio Tinto being the top gainers. The domestically focussed mid-cap FTSE 250 index added 0.5 per cent to mark a record closing high. Energy shares, industrial miners and healthcare stocks have been the top three performers this week.

Additional reporting by agencies