SENSEX, NIFTY50 edge higher; ABFRL drops 8% after block deal

The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher in trade on Wednesday, June 4. The 30-shares SENSEX rose as much as 230 points and NIFTY50 briefly moved above its important psychological level of 24,600 led by gains in Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Eternal, Infosys and Reliance Industries. However, the gains were capped owing to weakness in ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Titan, Axis Bank and Ultratech Cement.

As of 9:23 am, the SENSEX was up 107 points at 80,845 and NIFTY50 index rose 40 points to 24,584.

Global market update

Asian markets were trading higher following a strong overnight session in the US. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.85%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.60%. Taiwan Weighted gained 1.78% and South Korea's KOSPI index climbed 2.35%.

Overnight, US stocks pulled closer to their record on Tuesday as the wait continued for more updates on President Donald Trump’s tariffs and how much they’re affecting the economy, news agency AP reported.

Dow Jones rose 0.51%, S&P500 index climbed 0.58% and Nasdaq index advanced 0.81%.

Sectoral landscape

Most of the sectors gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading on a flat note with a positive bias. NIFTY Auto index as top sectoral gainer, the index rose 0.6%. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, Pharma, PSU Bank IT and Oil & Gas indices also rose between 0.1%-0.4%.

Metal stocks were showing resilience despite US President Donald Trump announced to hike nearly all of his tariffs on foreign steel and aluminium to 50% on Wednesday, a move that would hammer businesses from automakers to home builders, and likely push up prices for consumers.

Mid and small-caps outperform

Broader markets were outperforming their larger peers as NIFTY MIdcap 100 and NIFTY Smallcap 100 indices rose 0.4% each.

Among the individual shares, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail fell 8% to ₹79 after media reports suggested that Walmart-backed Flipkart sold its 6% stake in the company.

NIFTY50 gainers and losers

Tata Motors was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 1.9% to ₹711. Bharti Airtel, Shriram Finance, Eternal, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bharat Electronics were also among the gainers.

On the flipside, Ultratech Cement, JSW Steel, ICICI Bank, Coal India, Titan, ONGC and Sun Pharma were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1700 shares were advancing while 1,206 were declining on the BSE.