Benchmark Indian equity indices, the BSE Sensex and the Nifty 50, opened marginally higher on Thursday after strength in the US markets.
Latest stock market information
The Nifty F&O expiry day saw a surprisingly sharp turnaround in the domestic equity market on Thursday. At around 12:00 pm, the NSE Nifty rose 1.45 percent to 24,648 above 24,600 amid increased buying in IT stocks in heavyweights Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank. The BSE Sensex also recovered 1.43 percent to 81,621.58, from its intra-day low of 80,367.37.
Top gainers were Titan (2.12 percent), Infosys (1.5 percent), Bharti Airtel (1.31 percent), Tata Consultancy Services (1.3 percent) and Tech Mahindra (1.14 percent).
Only six of the 30 Sensex stocks were trading in the green, down as much as 1 percent. Among the laggards were NTPC, Asian Paints, Nestle India, Maruti, JSW Steel and Tata Motors.
BSE and NSE were trading in deep red after opening slightly flat in the early hours.
At the opening of trade on Thursday, 18 out of 30 stocks in the Sensex were in the green. The top gainers were Infosys (up 1.08%), followed by Ultra Tech 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 1.07 percent.
Global indicators
In global markets, Wall Street’s major indexes hit record highs, boosted by tech stocks and upbeat comments 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 rose 0.47 percent.
U.S. Treasury yields fell after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the strength of the U.S. 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 fell 0.15%, with most Asian markets closing higher except for South Korea.
In Europe, stocks rose about 0.4 percent, while the euro hit a two-year low ahead of a no-confidence vote in France.