Indices open higher; SENSEX rises 114 points, NIFTY50 at 25,067; Bajaj Finserv, SBI Life top gainer

The Indian stock market continued with its gaining streak for the sixth consecutive session on Thursday, August 21, despite mixed global cues.

The broader market traded with gains in the early session, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 rising 0.02% and 0.36%, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty Realty (0.90%), Nifty Oil and Gas (0.62%) and Nifty Metal (0.10%) were the top gainers. However, Nifty Media (-0.60%), Nifty IT (-0.59%) and Nifty FMCG (-0.38%) fell the most in the opening session.

According to exchange data, on Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹1,100.09 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹1,806.34 crore on a net basis.

Globally, Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday as investors were cautious ahead of a key meeting of the Federal Reserve.

Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.57%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was seen 0.34% lower, while South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.92%, and the Shanghai Composite also traded up by 0.35%.

On Wall Street, shares dropped on Wednesday, driven by a selloff in the tech stocks for the second day. Investors wait for remarks from Federal Reserve officials at their Jackson Hole symposium this week.

The S&P 500 lost 16.40 points, or 0.26%, to end at 6,394.97 points, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 144.76 points, or 0.68%, to 21,170.19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average settled flat at 44,923.75.

As many as 2,497 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,498 advanced, 914 declined, and 85 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 43 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 12 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 54 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 14 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 11.79 levels, rising 0.23%.

Bajaj Finserv was the most contributing stock, gaining 1.41%, followed by SBI Life Insurance (1.32%), HDFC Life Insurance (1.12%), Reliance Industrial (0.99%) and Trent (0.77%).

On the contrary, Eternal (-1.10%), Tata Consumer Products (-1.07%), Nestle India (-1.06%), Hindustan Unilever (-0.97%) and Tech Mahindra (-0.59%) were the biggest laggards.