Market Opening: SENSEX rises 117 points, NIFTY50 at 24,922; banking stocks lead gains, Max Healthcare top gainer

The Indian stock market opened slightly higher on Monday, October 6, tracking Asian peers, as banking stocks advanced. The market investors were, however, cautious ahead of the upcoming earnings season.

India’s second-quarter earnings season kicks off this week, with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) set to announce its results on October 9. Meanwhile, the investors will keep a close eye on the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes from its mid-September meeting, scheduled for October 8.

The broader market also rose in the early session, with Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 climbing 0.12% and 0.03%, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty Bank surged 0.49%, led by gains in Bank of Baroda (1.86%), IDFC First Bank (1.74%) and AU Small Finance Bank (1.61%). Among others, Nifty Private Bank (0.66%), Nifty PSU Bank (0.43%) and Nifty IT (0.21%) were also trading higher.

However, Nifty Pharma (-0.52%) and Nifty Media (-0.40%), along with Nifty Metal and Nifty FMCG (down 0.35% each), edged lower.

According to exchange data, on Friday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹1,583.37 crore on a net basis, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased ₹489.76 crore worth of equities.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained net sellers of Indian equities in September, withdrawing ₹23,885 crore and taking year-to-date outflow to ₹1.58 lakh crore.

Globally, Japanese stocks led gains across Asian markets on Monday, with the Nikkei surging to record highs after fiscal dove Sanae Takichi’s weekend election victory bolstered expectations of increased government spending and stimulus.

Outside Japan, trading across Asia remained subdued, with market holidays in China and South Korea keeping volumes thin.

Japan's Nikkei was up 4.61%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.72%.

As many as 2,717 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,412 were trading in the green, 1,223 were trading in the red, and 82 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 82 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 30 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 63 stocks also hit their lower circuits, while 29 stocks hit their upper circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading higher by 3.25% at 10.39 levels.

Max Healthcare was the biggest contributor, gaining 2.83%, followed by Apollo Hospitals (2.26%), Bajaj Finance (1.75%), Shriram Finance (1.73%) and Axis Bank (0.97%).

On the flip side, Power Grid (-1.17%), Cipla (-1.09%), Titan (-1.02%), Dr.Reddy’s (-1%) and SBI Life Insurance (-0.81%) were the top losers on the 50-share index.