Market opening: SENSEX rises 163 points, NIFTY50 above 25,950, Nifty Bank hits record high; Bajaj Auto top gainer

The Indian equity market opened higher on Monday, November 17, supported by gains in banking and realty stocks despite mixed global cues.

The broader market was also trading in green in the early trade, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 surging 0.38% and 0.50%, respectively.

Nifty Bank hit its record high level of 58,826.90, led by a strong rally in IDFC First Bank (2.01%), AU Small Finance Bank (1.82%) and Bank of Baroda (1.6%). This is the first time Nifty Bank has crossed the 58,800 mark.

All sectoral indices were trading in the green, led by Nifty PSU Bank, which rose 1.23%. Nifty Media gained 1.09%, followed by Nifty Realty at 0.55%, while Nifty Private Bank and Nifty FMCG each added 0.49%.

According to exchange data, on Tuesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹4,968.22 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹8,461.47 crore on a net basis.

Globally, other Asian markets stayed cautious as investors awaited key US economic data and remained uncertain about the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.89%, and South Korea's KOSPI was up 1.33%, while China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.43%, and Japan's Nikkei was also trading 0.55% lower.

Last week, major Wall Street indices ended mixed on Friday as investors grew concerned that the Federal Reserve may delay cutting US interest rates in December.

The S&P 500 slid 0.05% to close at 6,734.11, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.65% to end at 47,147.48, while the Nasdaq rose 0.13% to settle at 22,900.59 points.

As many as 2,823 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,795 advanced, 947 declined, and 81 shares remained unchanged.

This indicates that the market's breadth is favourable towards advances.

Meanwhile, 73 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 72 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 57 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 53 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 12.03 levels, up 0.73%.

Bajaj Auto was the top contributor, climbing 1.49%, followed by Tata Consumer Product (1.07%), Shriram Finance (1%), Apollo Hospitals (0.82%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (0.67%).

On the flip side, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles (-5.04%), Eternal (-0.76%), Adani Enterprises (-0.57%), UltraTech Cement (-0.51%) and IndiGo (-0.43%) were the biggest laggards on the 50-share index.