Market opening: NIFTY50 above 24,300, SENSEX rises 204 points as oil and gas stocks gain; Tata Consumer, BEL top gainers

The Indian stock market opened higher on Wednesday, September 17, led by gains in oil & gas and auto stocks. Investor sentiment was buoyed as India and US chief negotiators began talks on a proposed trade agreement aimed at resolving issues related to steep tariffs, which have been a major concern for exporters.

The market participants worldwide are also closely watching the US Federal Reserve’s decision on a potential rate cut.

The broader market was also trading up, with both Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 gaining 0.23% and 0.44%, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty Oil & Gas (+0.36%), Nifty Auto (+0.33%), and Nifty IT (+0.29%) led the gains, while Nifty Pharma (-0.10%) was the only sector in the red during the opening session.

According to exchange data, on Tuesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹308.32 crore on a net basis, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased ₹1,518.73 crore worth of equities.

Globally, Asian stocks were trading mixed as investors remained cautious ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.16%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 1.42%, and the Shanghai Composite was also trading higher by 0.41%. South Korea's KOSPI was down 0.79%.

On Wall Street, the three main indices closed lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 125.55 points, or 0.27%, to 45,757.90; the S&P 500 fell 8.52 points, or 0.13%, to 6,606.76; and the Nasdaq Composite lost 14.79 points, or 0.07%, to 22,333.96.

Tata Consumer Products (2.63%), Bharat Electronics (1.35%), UltraTech Cement (1.33%), Coal India (1.05%) and Trent (0.95%) were the most contributing stocks.

On the other hand, Adani Ports (-0.45%), Eicher Motors (-0.41%), Eternal (-0.40%), Cipla (-0.31%) and Hindalco Industries (-0.28%) were the biggest laggards on the 50-share index.

As many as 2,638 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,991 were trading in the green, 573 were trading in the red, and 74 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 54 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 10 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 52 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 8 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading 1.07% lower at 10.16 levels.