Market opening: SENSEX up 317 points, NIFTY50 at 25,251 on global cues; Jio Fin top gainer

The Indian stock market opened higher on Wednesday, October 15, tracking gains in Asian markets and optimism in IT and PSU bank stocks. Investor sentiment was further lifted after the IMF raised its growth outlook for India.

The broader market was also trading higher, with both Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 surging 0.53% and 0.27%, respectively.

Among sectors, all indices opened in the green except Nifty Media, which slipped 0.23%. Nifty Realty (0.77%), Nifty PSU Bank (0.58%), Nifty IT (0.49%), Nifty FMCG (0.45%), and Nifty Auto (0.37%) led the gains in early trade.

According to exchange data, on Tuesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹1,508.53 crore on a net basis, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased ₹3,661.13 crore worth of equities.

Globally, most of the Asian markets were trading higher as expectations of a US Federal rate cut lifted sentiment and surpassed tensions over US-China trade tensions.

Japan's Nikkei rose 1.41%, Singapore's Straits Times advanced 0.39%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.34%, and South Korea's KOSPI jumped 1.99%. The Shanghai Composite was also seen marginally up by 0.10%.

On Wall Street, US stocks ended lower following a volatile session as trade tensions continued to simmer between Washington and Beijing.

The S&P 500 closed 0.2% lower after shifting between a steep morning loss and a recovery in the afternoon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.8% after making similar swings. 

As many as 2,627 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,777 were trading in the green, 781 were trading in the red, and 69 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 42 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 37 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 29 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 19 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading 3.94% lower at 10.72 levels.

Jio Financial Services was the most contributing stock, rising 1.52%, followed by Adani Enterprises (1.32%), HDFC Life Insurance (1.26%), Wipro (1.23%) and NTPC (1.16%).

On the flip side, Tech Mahindra (-0.76%), Axis Bank (-0.65%), Titan Company (-0.27%), Infosys (-0.26%) and Tata Motors (-0.06%) were the only laggards on the 50-share index.