Indian equity benchmarks opened on a positive note on Thursday, May 14, with the BSE Sensex surging 228 points to trade above the 77,500 level, while the NSE Nifty50 climbed above the 23,500 mark in early trade.
Market Performance
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 228.32 points to 77,515.62 in the opening session. Meanwhile, the broader Nifty50 gained 68.10 points, or 0.29%, to reach 23,536.30. The positive opening was driven by buying in heavyweights, led by Adani Ports, Bharti Airtel, PowerGrid, and HCL Technologies.
Top Gainers and Losers
Among the Sensex constituents, Adani Ports emerged as the top gainer, rising over 2%. Other significant gainers included Bharti Airtel, PowerGrid Corporation, HCL Technologies, Titan Company, and Tata Consultancy Services. On the other hand, laggards included IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, and UltraTech Cement.
Sectoral Trends
On the sectoral front, Nifty IT, Nifty Metal, Nifty Pharma, and Nifty Realty indices were trading in the green, reflecting broad-based buying. However, Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services showed mixed trends. The broader markets also performed well, with the BSE MidCap index rising 0.4% and the BSE SmallCap index gaining 0.5%.
Global Cues
Asian markets traded mixed on Thursday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 and South Korea's Kospi marginally lower, while China's Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were flat. Overnight, US markets ended on a cautious note as investors awaited key inflation data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended slightly lower.
Expert View
Market analysts attributed the positive opening to buying in IT and metal stocks, along with continued foreign institutional investor (FII) inflows. They expect the market to remain range-bound with a positive bias, tracking global cues and domestic economic data.
Overall, the market breadth remained positive, with 1,842 stocks advancing, 1,104 declining, and 149 unchanged on the BSE. The rally was supported by strong buying in index heavyweights, indicating investor confidence in the domestic economy.
