At 11:30 am, Indian benchmark indices were trading sharply higher, extending their early gains. The Sensex surged 900.95 points or 1.11% to reach 81,852.94, while the Nifty jumped 279.20 points or 1.13%, trading the 24,888.90 mark. The rally was supported by strong buying in heavyweight sectors like tech and FMCG.
Indian markets are trading in the green, with the Sensex up 618 points or 0.76% at 81,570.12 and the Nifty higher by 197.60 points OR 0.8% at 24,807.30 as of the first hour of trade.
Indian equity indices opened Friday’s trading session on a marginally higher note. The NSE Nifty 50 opened 29 points, or 0.12%, higher at 24,63905, while the BSE Sensex opened 38.64 points, or 0.05%, higher at 80,990.
Bank Nifty opened 50 points or 0.09% higher at 54,991. However, the midcap stocks outperformed relatively in the opening trade. The Nifty Midcap 100 advanced 137 points, or 0.24%, to open at 56,462.40.
“The Nifty ended 204 points lower yesterday, closing at the all-important 24610 level. Technically speaking, yesterday’s recovery has traced a candle with a long lower shadow, and took support at the lows from last Thursday’s candle, when the Nifty ended above 25k. Support lies between here and all the way down till 24050, where the 200-day average sits. On the upside, bulls need a close above Wednesday’s high of 24946 to eliminate the risk of a bigger drop,” said Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research at Axis Securities.
“After the 14% pull-back from the March lows, the market is struggling to find direction. It appears that the sustained FII buying, which played an important role in this rally, has run out of steam. The big FII selling on the 20th and 22nd of this month indicates that the FIIs may again turn sellers if the global environment turns unfavourable. There are some global concerns arising out of the sharp rise in bond yields in the US and Japan,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments.
Here are key highlights from the early session-
Top performers leading the charge
Among the top gainers on the Nifty 50 were Zomato, Grasim Industries, Infosys, Trent, and Tata Consumer Products. The top movers in the Nifty 50 were Zomato, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, UltraTech Cement, and IndusInd Bank as soon as markets opened.
Stocks in the red
Not everything was rosy, though. The stocks that remained under pressure included Sun Pharma, Hindalco, and ICICI Bank were the only laggards in the morning trade.
All eyes on Q4 earnings
Investors are closely tracking a string of quarterly results scheduled for today. Major names like Ashok Leyland, JSW Steel, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Apollo Micro Systems, Afcons Infrastructure, Ashoka Buildcon, BEML, Balkrishna Industries, Cello World, Exicom Tele-Systems, Concord Drugs, Narayana Hrudayalaya, Finolex Industries, Transrail Lighting, and West Coast Paper Mills will announce their quarterly earnings scorecard on May 23.