Indices flat in early trade: NIFTY50 trades at 24,914, SENSEX up 123 pts; Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel top gainers

Tracking its Asian peers, the Indian stock market opened on a flat note on Tuesday, August 19, as heavyweight stocks like Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and Adani Ports rallied.

Shares of Reliance Industries were among the top gainers as the company’s FMCG arm, Reliance Consumer Products Ltd (RCPL), forayed into the fast-growing healthy functional beverage space with the acquisition of a majority stake in a JV with Naturedge Beverages.

The broader market traded with gains in the early session, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 rising 0.13% and 0.18%, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty Media (0.82%) and Nifty Oil and Gas (0.73%) were the biggest gainers, while Nifty Realty and Nifty Auto fell the most, losing -0.30% each.

According to exchange data, on Monday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹550.85 crore on a net basis, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased ₹4,103.81 crore worth of equities.

On the global front, most of the Asian stocks were seen subdued after Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukraine’s president and European leaders ended with a call for a summit with Russia.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.18%, South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.31%, and Japan's Nikkei also slipped 0.36%, while the Shanghai Composite was trading up by 0.30%.

On Wall Street, indices closed almost flat on Monday as investors eyed corporate earnings reports and the Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 34.30 points, or 0.08%, to end at 44,911.82; the S&P 500 fell 0.65 points, or 0.01%, to close at 6,449.15; while the Nasdaq Composite marginally rose 6.80 points, or 0.03%, to settle at 21,629.77.

As many as 2,508 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,464 were trading in the green, 961 were trading in the red, and 83 shares remained unchanged.

This indicates that the market's breadth was favourable to advances.

Meanwhile, 42 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while only 25 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 42 stocks also hit their lower circuits, while 23 stocks hit their upper circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading 1.62% lower at 12.14 levels.

Bharti Airtel was the most contributing stock, rising 2.06%, followed by Reliance Industries (2.05%), Hero MotoCorp (0.98%), Adani Ports (0.69%) and NTPC (0.58%).

On the flip side, Shriram Finance (-1.32%), Nestle India (-0.94%), Bharat Electronics (-0.94%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-0.90%) and Bajaj Finance (-0.89%) were among the top laggards on the 50-share index.