Markets opened in green on Thursday amid volatility. At 09:16 IST, the Sensex rose 295.96 points or 0.52 percent to 57115.35, and the Nifty rose 93.20 points or 0.55 percent to 17131.60. About 1,525 stocks are up, 398 stocks are down and 78 stocks are unchanged. Investors will react to the corporate earnings of the Nifty50 companies HUL and Bajaj Auto, in addition to tracking geopolitical developments.
Among the Sensex-30 stocks, HUL, Sun Pharma, M&M, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, Bajaj finserv, Axis Bank, L&T and Tata Steel were the biggest winners, rising to 3 percent. HCL Tech, HDFC Bank, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel and TCS, meanwhile, were in the red.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices also opened in positive territory, rising 0.73%.
VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “A clear trend in the markets right now, both in developed markets and in India, is to favor value stocks over expensive growth stocks. This is partly a reflection of risk aversion among investors in the current context of mounting challenges posed by the expected aggressive tightening by the Fed and the uncertainties stemming from the war in Ukraine that is prolonging.”
“The dollar index of 103 signals a flight to safety and this means that FPIs will continue to sell in this market. Selling on rallies will likely be the structure of this market in the near term. Long-term investors who can ignore short-term movements in the market can buy high-quality banking and IT stocks that are under pressure from the sale of FPIs,” said Vijayakumar.
Global clues
US stocks on Wall Street posted only meager gains on Wednesday after a broad rally led by tech companies faded into late afternoon, leaving little change in the market a day after a major sell-off. The S&P 500 rose 8.76 points to 4,183.96, while the Dow added 61.75 points to 33,301.93. The Nasdaq fell 1.81 points to 12,488.93.
Shares of Tokyo rose in morning trading Thursday after US indices avoided further sharp declines, relieved investors who also cheered solid corporate gains. The Nikkei 225 index opened flat and then gained 0.42 percent or 110.19 points to 26,496.82 while the broader Topix index added 0.70 percent or 13.05 points to 1,873.81. The dollar stood at 128.46 yen, barely changing from 128.43 yen on Wednesday in New York.
Hong Kong stocks opened with gains on Thursday morning after an overall positive lead from Wall Street and Europe and after Chinese officials made further pledges to support the country’s economy. The Hang Seng index rose 0.86 percent, or 172.43 points, to 20,118.79. But the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.42 percent, or 12.47 points, to 2,945.81, while the Shenzhen Composite Index on China’s second exchange fell 0.55 percent, or 10.09 points, to 1,811.30.
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