Mumbai, May 2 (IANS): PSU stocks were making strong gains on Thursday with the sectoral index up by 1.7 per cent.

Among the PSU stocks, MOIL is up more than 8 per cent, PFC is up more than 6 per cent, BHEL is up more than 4 per cent, BPCL is up more than 4 per cent, and RITES is up more than 3 per cent.

Powergrid is the top Sensex gainer, up by 4 per cent. REC is up more than 8 per cent, and HPCL is up more than 7 per cent.

Infrastructure stocks are also gaining with the index up by 1.6 per cent. CESC is up more than 4 per cent, NTPC is up 2 per cent.

The market breadth is positive with 51 per cent of the stocks advancing and 44 per cent declining.

BSE Sensex was trading at 74,731 points, up by 249 points.

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said that the domestic cues are strongly positive. The GST collection for April setting a record of Rs 2.1 trillion indicates a booming economy. India’s GDP is estimated to have grown by 7.6 per cent in FY24 and is expected to continue the growth momentum with above 7 per cent growth in FY25, too. “In April while the S&P 500 is down by 4.2 per cent, Nifty is up by 0.7 per cent. This outperformance can continue,” he said.

The sharp 5 per cent decline in crude is negative for ONGC and positive for tyres, paints and adhesives which use petroleum as inputs, he added.