Market Opening Bell: Indices flat amid geopolitical tensions, NIFTY50 slips 0.14%, SENSEX down 50 pts; Tata Motors soars 3%

The Indian stock market opened with marginal gains on Thursday, May 8, following global markets. However, the indices turned red after a while as geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan kept investors jittery.

Meanwhile, the market was waiting for cues post the US Federal Reserve rate announcement. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday held the key interest rates unchanged between 4.25% and 4.5%, noting that the economic activity is expanding at a solid pace, but inflation remains somewhat elevated.

In the early session, the broader market remained positive, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices trading up by 0.16% and 0.67%, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty Private Bank (0.63%), PSU Bank (0.54%) and Auto (0.43%) were among the biggest gainers. Nifty FMCG (-0.58%), Pharma (-0.50%) and Metal (-0.16%) slipped the most.

On Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹2,585.86 crore on a net basis, according to exchange data.

Globally, the US markets closed positive on Wednesday in a choppy trading session after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged amid economic uncertainties.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 284.97 points, or 0.70%, to 41,113.97, the S&P 500 advanced 24.37 points, or 0.43%, to 5,631.28, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 48.50 points, or 0.27%, to the 17,738.16 level.

Following the gains on Wall Street, the Asian stocks were also higher on Thursday morning.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was trading 0.39% higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.21% at 22,972.35 levels. The Kospi index advanced 0.54%, and the Shanghai Composite was also up 0.38%.  

As many as 2,320 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,793 stocks were trading in the green, 472 in the red and 55 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 14 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 13 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 21 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 16 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading 3.09% higher at 18.47 levels.

Tata Motors led the winning pack on the NIFTY50 index, surging 2.76%. Coal India (2.14%), Power Grid (1.45%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (1.39%) and Axis Bank (1.39%) were the other top contributors on the index.

On the other hand, Eternal (-1.6%), Dr Reddy’s (-1.3%), Tata Consumer Products (-1.26%), Hindalco (-1.12%) and ITC (-1.12%) were the most losing stocks on the 50-share index.