Sensex jumps 300 points in early trade

Mumbai, August 21: The Sensex and Nifty rose by 300 points in the opening session on Wednesday on fresh buying by funds and retail investors amid weak Asian cues.

The rupee was trading weak by 13 paise at 63.36 against the dollar at 9.31 a.m. local time against the previous close of 63.23.

Asia’s benchmark stock index fell for a fifth day to trade at the lowest level in six weeks ahead of the release of minutes of the Federal Reserve’s July policy meeting.

Nikkei fell 63.45 points or 0.47 percent to 13,332.90, Hang Seng shed 224.69 points or 1.02 percent to 21,745.60, while S&P/ASX 200 was up 15.12 points or 0.3 percent a 5,093.30.