Market Opening: SENSEX up 57 points, NIFTY50 at 25,102 as auto stocks surge; M&M leads gains

The Indian stock market opened with modest gains on Tuesday, September 16, led by auto stocks and supported by positive global cues, as investors worldwide await the US Federal Reserve’s decision on a potential rate cut.

The Fed’s two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting will conclude on Wednesday, September 17, with markets largely pricing in a 25-basis-point rate cut amid easing concerns over the US labour market.

The broader market was also seen trading higher in the early session, with both Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 rising 0.18% and 0.27%, respectively.

Among sectors, all indices were trading higher except Nifty PSU Bank (-0.13%) and Nifty FMCG (-0.08%). Nifty Auto (0.75%), Nifty Media (0.64%), and Nifty Oil & Gas (0.30%) emerged as the top gainers.

According to exchange data, on Monday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹1,268.59 crore on a net basis, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased ₹1,933.33 crore worth of equities.

On the global front, most of the Asian indices continued to rally on Tuesday, with shares in Japan and South Korea reaching fresh record highs, supported by expectations of a potential US interest rate cut later this week.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.24%, South Korea's KOSPI rose 1.19%, and Japan's Nikkei climbed 0.52%. Shanghai Composite, however, slipped 0.10%.

On Wall Street, the three major indices rose on Monday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq reaching record high closing levels, ahead of the Federal Reserve’s important policy announcement expected later this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 49.23 points, or 0.11%, to 45,883.45; the S&P 500 rose 30.99 points, or 0.47%, to 6,615.28; and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 207.65 points, or 0.94%, to 22,348.75.

As many as 2,607 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 2,025 were trading in the green, 491 were trading in the red, and 91 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 52 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while only 9 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 48 stocks also hit their lower circuits, while 14 stocks hit their upper circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading down 0.57% at 10.34 levels.

Mahindra & Mahindra was the most contributing stock, gaining 1.48%, followed by Hero MotoCorp (0.94%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (0.90%), Larsen & Toubro (0.67%) and Bajaj Finserv (0.63%).

On the flip side, Nestle India (-0.68%), Titan (-0.53%), Asian Paints (-0.46%), IndusInd Bank (-0.35%) and HDFC Bank (-0.31%) were the biggest laggards on the 50-share index.