Indian benchmark indices opened higher on Tuesday, led by gains in IT stocks. The Nifty IT index surged 1.7 per cent in early trade.
At 9:23 a.m., the Sensex was up 355 points, or 0.44 per cent, at 81,142, while the Nifty rose 99 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 24,873.
The broader markets remained flat, with the Nifty Midcap 100 inching up 0.05 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 dipped 0.01 per cent.
Nifty IT advanced on strong gains by Infosys (up 3.35 per cent) after the company announced that it would consider a share buyback along with its results next month. Wipro also rose 2.36 per cent. Tech Mahindra, TCS and Bajaj Finserv were among other major gainers in the Nifty pack, while Titan Company, Shriram Finance, ICICI Bank, Tata Consumer and Tata Motors were among the top losers.
Among sectoral indices, besides Nifty IT, which was the top gainer, Nifty Pharma (up 0.47 per cent) and Nifty Auto (up 0.21 per cent) also traded in the green. Several other indices registered marginal losses.
Analysts noted that the Nifty index formed a small red candle with a long upper shadow on the daily chart, indicating consolidation and volatility.
“While buying interest is visible at lower levels, the 24,900–25,000 zone remains a stiff hurdle. Support is placed at 24,620, and as long as Nifty trades below 25,000, some consolidation or mild weakness may persist,” they said.
“Upside momentum vanished on testing 24,870, which we had pencilled in as a critical pivot yesterday. Though the turn lower was abrupt and steep, oscillators remain accommodative towards further upsides. We will look for a close beyond 24,730–870 for further clarity,” said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Investments.
Overnight, US markets ended in the green, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.25 per cent, the Nasdaq gaining 0.45 per cent, and the S\&P 500 rising 0.21 per cent. Investors there are awaiting two key inflation reports that could influence the Federal Reserve’s decision at its meeting next week.
Asian markets traded mixed in the morning session. China’s Shanghai index fell 0.35 per cent, while Shenzhen declined 1 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei was up 0.2 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.82 per cent, and South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.06 per cent.
On Friday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs/FPIs) turned net sellers, pulling out Rs 2,170 crore from Indian equities, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 3,014 crore.
—IANS