Sensex in line with Asia, gains 146 points; Nifty tops 9,600

MUMBAI: The Sensex made a good start today latching onto the progress made on the GST front by bouncing over 146 points and the NSE Nifty retook 9,600 amid a rising trend in Asia.      

Risk-on improved after the GST Council yesterday relaxed return filing rules for businesses for the first two months of the rollout of the new indirect tax regime even as it stuck to the July 1 launch date.     

The 30-share index was trading higher by 146.23 points, or 0.47 per cent, at 31,202.63, with all the sectoral indices led by capital goods, auto, realty and FMCG moving in the positive terrain by gaining up to 0.73 per cent.     

The gauge had lost 99.51 points in the previous two sessions.     

The 50-share Nifty regained the 9,600 mark at 9,631.25, up 43.20 points, or 0.45 per cent.     

According to traders, buying activity picked up, mirroring positive cues from the rest of Asia after another record on the Wall Street at the close of last week.         

The lift mostly came from Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, L&T, TCS, Hero MotoCorp, M&M, ITC Ltd, Wipro, HDFC and Hindustan Unilever, gaining by up to 2.42 per cent.     

Japan's Nikkei was up 0.60 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.92 per cent in early trade today. China's Shanghai Composite was too up by 0.44 per cent.     

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.11 per cent higher on Friday.