Market Opening Bell: Indices positive in morning trade; NIFTY50 hovers around 22,500 level, SENSEX rises over 100 pts

The equity benchmark indices on Thursday, March 13, opened in green, supported by positive inflation data and global cues.

At 9:16 AM, the S&P BSE SENSEX was up 109.05 points, or 0.15%, at the 74,138.81 level, while NSE’s NIFTY50 was at the 22,491.50 level, rising 21 points, or 0.09%.

Subdued food prices in February pulled down retail inflation below the Reserve Bank of India's median target of 4%, while the country's manufacturing sector pushed the key factory output index to 5% in January, the government data showed on Wednesday.

Retail inflation in India slipped to a seven-month low of 3.61% in February 2025, down from 4.26% in January. The year-on-year inflation rate, based on the all-India Consumer Price Index (CPI), recorded a provisional 3.61% for February 2025 compared to the same month last year. This is the lowest headline inflation since July 2024.

During the opening bell, the market breadth remained in favour of positive, as 1,391 stocks advanced on the National Stock Exchange out of 1,995 stocks traded.

As many as 23 stocks on the NIFTY50 index were trading in the green and 27 in the red.

Bharat Electronics (BEL), ONGC, Tata Steel, Adani Enterprises, State Bank of India were the most contributing scrips on the 50-share index, gaining as much as 2.19%.

Globally, the Asian markets opened higher on Thursday, taking cues from the rally in the US, while Chinese indices were trading in the negative. The Japanese indices gained as much as 1% on Thursday morning, followed by the Korean Kospi at 0.6%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng index traded in red with minor losses.

In the US, the NASDAQ and S&P 500 snapped the two-day correction to close nearly 1% higher on Wednesday on a softer-than-expected inflation print. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 82.55 points, or 0.20%, to 41,350.93; the S&P 500 gained 27.23 points, or 0.49%, to 5,599.30; and the Nasdaq Composite gained 212.36 points, or 1.22%, to 17,648.45.

Meanwhile, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹1,627.61 crore on a net basis on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

As many as 2,433 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which only 1,102 stocks were trading in the green, 1,269 in the red and 62 shares remained unchanged.

Only 5 stocks hit their one-year low in the early trade, while only 96 stocks touched their 52-week high.

Further, 40 stocks hit their lower circuits while 27 hit their upper circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading 1.20% lower at 13.53 levels.

The broader market remained under pressure during the opening bell with Nifty Midcap 100 trading 0.34% lower at 48,319.50 levels and Nifty Smallcap 100 at 14,942.40 levels, falling 0.68%.

The stock rose 0.16% to ₹1,593.40 apiece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) at 9:26 am.

The EV company on Tuesday announced its limited-time Holi flash sale offers for its popular S1 range of electric scooters.

Bharat Electronics in a stock exchange filing said that it has signed a contract with Ministry of Defence for supply and services of Ashwini Radars.