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Benchmark Indian equity indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty 50, opened with modest gains on Thursday, following strength in the US markets.
Stock Market Updates
The domestic equities market on Thursday witnessed a surprisingly sharp turnaround on the Nifty F&O expiry day. At around 12:00 pm, the NSE Nifty swung by 1.45 per cent to surge above 24,600 at 24,648 amid increased buying in the IT stocks as well as heavyweights Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank. The BSE Sensex also recovered by 1.43 per cent to 81,621.58, from its day’s low of 80,367.37.
Among top gainers were Titan (2.12 per cent), Infosys (1.5 pre cent), Bharti Airtel (1.31 per cent), Tata Consultancy Services (1.3 per cent) and Tech Mahindra (1.14 per cent).
Among the 30 Sensex stocks, only six were trading in green, down by up to 1 per cent. Amont the laggards were NTPC, Asian Paints, Nestle India, Maruti, JSW Steel and Tata Motors.
The BSE and NSE were trading in deep red in the initial hours after slightly gap-up opening.
At the start of trading on Thursday, 18 out of the 30 Sensex stocks were in the green. Leading the gains was Infosys (up 1.08%), followed by UltraTech Cement, TCS, Tech Mahindra, and Reliance Industries. On the downside, NTPC saw the biggest loss (down 0.72%), followed by JSW Steel, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki India, and Power Grid Corporation.
India’s volatility index, the India VIX, rose by 1.07%.
Global Cues
In global markets, Wall Street’s major indices surged to record highs, driven by tech stocks and positive remarks from Federal Reserve officials. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% to 6,086, the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.3% to 19,735, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% to 45,014.
MSCI’s global stock index increased by 0.47%.
US Treasury yields fell after Fed Chair Jerome Powell stated that the strength of the US economy would allow the central bank to “be a little more cautious” with interest rate policy.
In Asia, MSCI’s broadest index of stocks outside Japan slipped 0.15%, with most Asian markets, except South Korea, closing higher.
In Europe, stocks gained about 0.4%, while the euro traded near a two-year low ahead of the no-confidence vote in France.