Indian markets soared over 900 points in the opening trade on Thursday, as sentiment improved due to hopes of finding a potential treatment for the coronavirus infection, Reuters reported. Early results on Wednesday from a United States trial of the drug remdesivir showed that it might help patients recover from the illness caused by the coronavirus.

At 1 pm, the BSE Sensex was 920.17 points higher at 33,640.33. The National Stock Exchange Nifty 50 climbed 259.25 points to reach 9,812.60.

Hero MotoCorp was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 8%, followed by HCL Technologies, Tata Steel, Titan and Infosys. The stocks that rose the most on the Nifty 50 were Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, Vedanta Limited, Hindalco and HCL Technologies.

Asian Paints, Sun Pharma and Hindustan Unilever were the major losers on both the indices.

Both indices are set to close the month over 14% higher, recovering from the 23% fall in March as coronavirus had led to fears about an economic recession. In March, indices fell sharply, with the Sensex reaching to nearly 25,000 points, as several states were forced into lockdown. The indices also saw their worst crash on the stock exchange ever during the month.

Meanwhile, the rupee opened 59 paise higher at 75.16 against the US dollar compared with Wednesday’s close.