Indices open marginally higher as IT stocks rally; SENSEX rises 78 points, NIFTY50 at 24,637; Infosys top gainer

The Indian stock market opened with marginal gains on Thursday, August 14, amid mixed global cues and a rally in IT and pharma stocks.

The broader market traded with gains in the early session, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 rising 0.23% and 0.40%, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty IT took the lead, advancing 0.91%, followed by Nifty Pharma (0.80%) and Nifty Consumer Durables (0.29%). However, Nifty Metal (-0.79%), Nifty Media (-0.32%) and Nifty Oil and Gas (-0.20%) dragged the most.

According to exchange data, on Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹3,644.43 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹5,623.79 crore on a net basis.

On the global front, after three days of rally, stocks in Asia were mostly trading lower on Thursday as investors bet on a Federal Reserve rate cut next month.

Japan's Nikkei slipped 1.5%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was seen 0.26% lower, and South Korea's KOSPI fell 0.41%, while the Shanghai Composite traded up by 0.20% on Thursday.

On Wall Street, the benchmark indices S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit new closing highs for the second straight day on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 463.66 points, or 1.04%, to close at 44,922.27; the S&P 500 rose 20.82 points, or 0.32%, to end at 6,466.58; and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 31.24 points, or 0.14%, to settle at 21,713.14.

As many as 2,438 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,440 advanced, 919 declined, and 70 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 39 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 18 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 40 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 20 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 12.37 levels, rising 1.91%.

Infosys was the biggest gaining stock, surging 1.58%, followed by HDFC Life Insurance (1.38%), Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (0.76%), IndusInd Bank (0.71%) and Wipro (0.67%).

On the flip side, Tata Steel (-1.42%), ONGC (-1.16%), Bharat Electronics (-0.82%), Hindalco Industries (-0.74%) and JSW Steel (-0.72%) were the biggest losing stocks on the 50-share index.