RIL, Eternal drive Sensex 400 points higher, Nifty above 24,700

Economic Times

2 days ago

Indian benchmark equity indices, Sensex and Nifty, opened higher on Thursday, mirroring gains in Asian peers, while Treasury yields and the US dollar dipped.
ADVERTISEMENT The BSE Sensex was trading 419 points, or 0.52%, higher at 81,417. The Nifty50 was up 120 points, or 0.49%, trading at 24,740 around 9:37 am.
From the Sensex pack, Eternal, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, Reliance, M&M, and HCL Tech were among the top gainers, rising up to 2.5%. Meanwhile, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Nestle, and HUL opened with losses.
Barring Nifty FMCG, all major sectoral indices advanced at the open, with Nifty Pharma, Oil & Gas, and Auto leading the gains, rising up to 1.2%. Broader markets also moved higher, with the smallcap index up 0.7% and the midcap index rising 0.4%.
Among individual stocks, Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) opened nearly 2% higher after the company refuted a media report claiming that its negotiations with General Electric (GE) for the local production of GE414 engines had stalled. The state-run aerospace and defence firm called the report 'factually incorrect and misleading.' The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rose 0.5%, led by gains in Hong Kong and South Korean stocks, with the latter hitting an 11-month high on post-election optimism.
ADVERTISEMENT Overnight, Wall Street ended mixed, while Treasury yields and the dollar slipped after data showed a contraction in the U.S. services sector in May for the first time in a year.Back home, investors await the Reserve Bank of India's policy decision on Friday, with the central bank widely expected to cut key lending rates by 25 basis points for the third consecutive meeting.
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"Both geopolitical and economic news are likely to weigh on markets in the near term. A serious concern is a potential Russian retaliation to the recent Ukraine attacks on Russian planes. How serious this will be and what will be its consequences are unknown factors now," said Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments.
ADVERTISEMENT "The major economic news is the sharp dip in the US ISM PMI data. This indicates that the US economy is slowing down sharply. The US 10-year bond yield has declined to 4.36 % and, given the slowing US economy, is likely to trend lower. This will turn out to be good for EMs like India in the medium term, but the spike in uncertainty will keep the market within the present range for the near-term," Vijayakumar added.
Hardik Matalia, Derivative Analyst at Choice Broking, said, Nifty can find support at 24,600, followed by 24,400 and 24,450. On the higher side, 24,700 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 24,800 and 24,850.