SENSEX, NIFTY50 turn flat after opening in the green; RIL shares up 2%

The Indian bourses on Thursday, March 6, continued to open in the positive territory supported by gains in the oil and gas and metal sectors. Outperformance by the broader market also added to the optimism.

Market sentiment also remained positive following the global cues as investors cheered the likely easing of trade tensions between the US and major trading partners.

But the equity indices could not hold the gains and slipped to negative territory.

At 9:42 AM, S&P BSE SENSEX was down 122.46 points, or 0.17%, at 73,607.77 level, while NSE’s NIFTY50 was at 22,323.40 level, falling 13.90 points, or 0.06%.

During the opening bell, the S&P BSE SENSEX was trading at 74,088.74 levels, up 358.51 points or 0.49%, while the NSE's NIFTY50 index was trading at 22,445.75, rising 108.45 points, or 0.49%.

As many as 23 stocks on the NIFTY50 index were trading in the green and 27 in the red.

The top five gainers on the index were BPCL, Reliance Industries, Asian Paints, Shriram Finance and Tata Steel, gaining as much as 2.68% on the 50-share index.

Globally, Wall Street's main indexes finished higher in choppy trading. US President Donald Trump announced a one-month exemption on auto tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 485.60 points, or 1.14%, to 43,006.59; the S&P 500 gained 64.48 points, or 1.12%, to 5,842.63; and the Nasdaq Composite gained 267.57 points, or 1.46%, to 18,552.73.

Consequently, Asian markets opened higher on Thursday morning. China's blue-chip index rose 0.6%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index surged 2.4%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.86%, while Tokyo's Nikkei gained 0.8%. Japan's 10-year government bond yield hit a near 16-year high as sentiment remained fragile.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.58% but stayed lower at $69.70 per barrel in futures trade.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹2,895.04 crore on net basis on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

As many as 2,531 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 2,094 stocks were trading in the green, 386 in the red and only 51 shares remained unchanged.

This indicated that the market breadth was in favour of bulls.

As many as 11 stocks hit their one-year high in the early trade, while only 23 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 122 stocks hit their lower circuits while 26 hit their upper circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading 1.95% higher at 13.94 levels.

The broader market extended its gain during the opening bell with Nifty Midcap 100 trading 0.87% higher at 49,595 levels and Nifty Smallcap 100 at 15,402.15 levels, rising 1.34%.

The company's statement failed to allay investors' concerns.

At 9:53 AM, shares of the firm was trading at ₹2,228.00 apiece on the NSE, falling 0.79%.