Domestic equity benchmarks, the Sensex and Nifty, opened higher on Friday as buying in heavyweight stocks such as Power Grid, Trent, and Adani Ports lifted sentiment, offsetting weakness in Tata Steel and TCS counters.
At 9:24 am, the BSE Sensex climbed 195.06 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 82,367.16, after rising nearly 214 points in early trade. The NSE Nifty gained 56.40 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 25,238.20, after touching a day’s high of 25,242.05.
Among Sensex stocks, Power Grid led the gainers, rising 1.10 per cent to Rs 289.30. Trent shares gained 0.70 per cent, while Adani Ports, NTPC and Asian Paints rose 0.70 per cent, 0.68 per cent and 0.54 per cent, respectively.
Wall Street closed lower overnight, with all three major US indices ending in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.52 per cent to 46,358.42, the S&P 500 slipped 0.28 per cent to 6,735.11, and the Nasdaq Composite edged 0.08 per cent lower to 23,024.62.
Asian markets were trading lower in Friday’s trade. Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 1.01 per cent to 48,087.75, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 1.04 per cent to 26,475.70.
On Thursday, the Sensex climbed 398.44 points, or 0.49 per cent, to close at 82,172.10, while the Nifty50 advanced 135.65 points, or 0.54 per cent, to settle at 25,181.80.
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said the overall market environment is turning increasingly positive. “Globally, the GAZA peace accord signals end to the conflict and reduction of geopolitical risk from the region,” he said.
“Domestically, there are indications of a trade deal between US and India with India ‘rebalancing’ its oil purchases. These positive developments and the shift in FII strategy ( FIIs were buyers in the cash market in the last three trading days) bode well for the market. Even though valuations continue to be relatively high compared to most other markets, short-covering can take the market higher,” Vijayakumar said.
Vijayakumar said the event is highly likely, given that short positions in the market remain elevated. “The better-than-expected results from TCS, which reported better revenue and margin numbers, can lift sentiments for IT stocks.”
“A significant market trend is the elevated enthusiasm in the primary market. The Rs 11607 crore LG Electronics IPO getting oversubscribed 54 times is the reflection of exuberance in the IPO market. Refunds from these and other IPOs will add to the liquidity in the market helping the market to move higher,” Vijayakumar added.
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