Nifty Trades 118 Points Higher, Banking Stocks Gain

Benchmark indices opened the day higher as Asian markets were up more than 1 per cent, as investors continued to monitor the health of US President Donald Trump.

Global markets remained buoyant on reports that the US president would be discharged on Monday. The Nifty was trading with gains of 94 points at 11,511 points.

Reliance Industries saw its share price gain after announcing deals on Saturday. The company informed the exchanges that Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC will invest Rs 5,512.5 crore into its retail arm Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, while investment firm TPG will put in Rs 1,837.5, for a 1.22 per cent stake.

Banking stocks gained ahead of hearing on the interest being charged by banks during the moratorium period. Shares in ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and State Bank of India were all higher in early trade.

Shares in HCL Tech were trading up after the company and IBM expanded alliance to help organizations with digital transformation. Among the Nifty stocks that lost ground were Nestle, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel and Cipla.

Meanwhile, Asian markets were trading higher with the Australian S&P ASX/200 up more than 2 per cent, while the Hong Kong's Hang Sang and the Japanese Nikkei were seeing gains of more than 1 per cent.