Indian equity indices opened Thursday’s trading session gap-down. The NSE Nifty 50 opened 35 points, or 0.15%, lower at 23,120.95, while the BSE Sensex fell 106 points, or 0.14%, to open at 76,298.96. Hindustan Unilever’s share price declined by 3%. However, both indices soon started to trade in the green. At 10 am around, the Nifty 50 was up 65 points, or 0.28% at 23,220.95 while the Sensex was up 222.95 points, or 0.29%, at 76,627.94.

The GIFT Nifty indicated a lower opening for stocks. It was down 42 points, or 0.18%, at 23,133. During the pre-open session, the Nifty 50 was down 27 points, or 0.12%, at 23,128.30, while the Sensex was up 9.5 points, or 0.01%, at 76,414.52.

“There are two trends in the market that deserve attention. One, the institutional activity is showing a consistent trend – sustained selling by FIIs and sustained buying by DIIs. Two, there is a trend towards quality – largecaps are resilient while the broader market is weakening. These two trends are likely to continue in the near term,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“The long lower shadow from yesterday’s lows shows demand near the 23,000 area. Although longer-term support lies in the 22500 – 22700 zone, it’s critical for bulls to get past 23471,” said Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research at Axis Securities.

Hindustan Unilever, Nestle India, SBI, Axis Bank, and BPCL were the major losers in the Nifty 50. On the other hand, Wipro, UltraTech Cement, Trent, Infosys, and Tech Mahindra were the top gainers in the Nifty 50. Infosys, HDFC Bank, TCS, Wipro, and Sun Pharma were the significant contributors to the rise of Nifty 50.

The market breadth is in the favour of bears. Out of 2,361 stocks traded, 913 stocks were trading in the green while 1,370 declined, as per the data on NSE. 

Bank Nifty opened 5 points or 0.01% higher to trade at 48,729.75. The Nifty Midcap 100 gained 129.40 points, or 0.24%, to open at 53,242.90. 

Among the sectoral index, the Nifty IT  index opened higher outperforming other indices for the second consecutive session, up over 2%.