Indices open in green but lose momentum; SENSEX down 206 pts, NIFTY50 at 25,134 as auto stocks rally

The Indian equity benchmark indices opened higher on Tuesday, September 23, buoyed by strong gains in auto stocks and positive global cues.

Among sectors, Nifty Auto led the gains with a sharp rise of 2.03%, driven by strong performances from Maruti Suzuki (3.03%), Ashok Leyland (2.6%), and Eicher Motors (2.3%). Nifty IT edged up 0.17%, while Nifty Oil & Gas added 0.12%.

Nifty FMCG (-0.27%), Nifty Realty (-0.22%) and Nifty PSU Bank (-0.19%) were the top losing sectors.

The recent GST rate cut, which came into effect on Monday, September 22, fuelled a rally in auto stocks, supported by strong festive season demand.

The broader market was also seen trading higher in the early session, with both Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 rising 0.17% and 0.12%, respectively.

According to exchange data, on Monday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹2,910.09 crore on a net basis, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased ₹2,582.63 crore worth of equities.

Globally, Asian markets traded in a narrow range on Tuesday, with Chinese stocks leading regional losses. Overall trading volumes remained subdued due to a public holiday in Japan.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.82%, and the Shanghai Composite slipped 1.23%, while South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.40%.

On Wall Street, the US stocks rallied to a record high, boosted by renewed optimism in big-tech shares.

The S&P 500 rose 0.44% to hit an all-time closing high of 6,693.75, the Nasdaq advanced 0.7% to a record high of 22,789, and the Dow Jones advanced 0.14%. The up move in US stocks came after chip giant Nvidia rose 4% after it said that it will invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI.

As many as 2,628 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,223 were trading in the green, 1,315 were trading in the red, and 90 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 69 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 13 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 46 stocks also hit their lower circuits, while 18 stocks hit their upper circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading marginally up by 0.26% at 10.59 levels.

Maruti Suzuki was the biggest contributor, rising 3.03%, followed by Eicher Motors (1.81%), Mahindra & Mahindra (1.74%), Tata Motors (1.44%) and Hero MotoCorp (1.28%).

On the flip side, UltraTech Cement (-1.72%), Titan Company (-1.16%), Asian Paints (-1.12%), Trent (-0.93%), and Bharti Airtel (-0.92%) were among the top losers on the 50-share index.