Indices open with gains; NIFTY50 at 24,425, Sensex rises 182 points; Grasim Industries, SBI top gainers

The Indian stock market opened with gains on Monday, August 11, as banking stocks gained in the early session. Market investors, however, remain cautious ahead of CPI and WPI inflation data expected this week and global cues.

US President Donald Trump meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska will also be on the investors’ radar. The meet is aimed at brokering a ceasefire in the more-than-three-year conflict in Ukraine. 

The broader market was also trading in green on Monday, with both Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 rising 0.30% and 0.24%, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty PSU Bank (1.55%) was the top gainer, followed by Nifty Metal (0.52%) and Nifty Media (0.50%). On the other hand, Nifty Consumer Durables (-1.35%), Nifty IT (0.05%) and Nifty FMCG (0.04%) were the only laggards.

On Friday, both the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have bought equities worth ₹1,932.81 crore and ₹7,723.66 crore on a net basis, exchange data showed.

The foreign investors have pulled out nearly ₹18,000 crore from Indian equities so far this month, weighed down by escalating US-India trade tensions, disappointing first-quarter corporate earnings, and a weakening Indian rupee.

On the global front, indices in the Asian market were trading with gains on Monday amid corporate earnings, while a crucial report on US inflation would likely set the course of the dollar and bonds. Investors are eyeing the tariff deadline on China, which expires on Tuesday, but many expect it will get extended further.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng remained flat, while the Shanghai Composite was trading up by 0.51% and South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.17%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 remained closed on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks ended higher, with the Nasdaq closing at a record high for the second straight day on Friday as investors were optimistic about potential interest rate cuts.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 206.97 points, or 0.47%, to end at 44,175.61; the S&P 500 rose 49.45 points, or 0.78%, to close at 6,389.45; while the Nasdaq Composite surged 207.32 points, or 0.98%, to settle at 21,450.02.

As many as 2,533 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,407 were trading in the green, 1,044 were trading in the red, and 82 shares remained unchanged.

This indicates that the market breadth was in favour of positive.

Meanwhile, 31 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 59 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 42 stocks also hit their lower circuits, while 38 stocks hit their upper circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading 3.82% higher at 12.49 levels.

Grasim Industries was the most contributing stock, gaining 2.04%. State Bank of India (1.72%), Adani Enterprises (1.14%), Jio Financial Services (0.84%) and SBI Life Insurance (0.81%) were the other top gainers.

On the contrary, Titan (-1.25%), ICICI Bank (-0.62%), HCL Technologies (-0.60%), Apollo Hospitals (-0.56%) and Hindustan Unilever (-0.54%) were the biggest losing stocks.