SENSEX, NIFTY50 edge higher; ICICI Bank, L&T gain, Infosys, TCS fall

The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher in opening deals on Friday, September 25, powered by buying interest in index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Finance.

However, the gains were capped owing to weakness in IT heavyweights like Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Tech Mahindra.

The SENSEX rose as much as 158 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 23,104.

As of 9:26 am, the SENSEX was up 78 points at 73,658 and NIFTY50 index gained 16 points to 23,078.

Asian shares were trading on a mixed note tracking a surge in crude prices. Japan's Nikkei rose 1.13% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 2%.

Chinese and South Korean markets were shut on account of holiday.

Overnight, US stocks declined for the third consecutive session on Thursday as treasury yields climbed to a 19-year high.

The Dow Jones fell 0.31% to end at 51,349.98, while the S&P 500 ended flat, with negative bias, at 7,704.13, down 0.02%. The NASDAQ Composite was little changed at 26,939.37, up 0.01%.

Back home, 13 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading higher led by the NIFTY Metal index's 0.8% gain. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, Auto, Media, Pharma, Private Bank, Realty and Consumer Durables indices also rose between 0.2% and 0.4%.

On the other hand, IT and FMCG shares were facing selling pressure.

Broader markets trading on a flat note as NIFTY Midcap 100 index rose 0.1% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index rose 0.26%.

Among the individual shares, PB Fintech extended its decline for a second straight session after staging its biggest single-day fall in the previous session.

The stock dropped as much as 10.4% from day's highest level to an intraday low of 1,131

Asian Paints was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 1.3% to ₹2,423. Cipla, Power Grid, Axis Bank, JSW Steel, HCL Technologies, Power Grid, JSW Steel, Bajaj Auto and Shriram Finance also rose between 0.5% and 1.2%.

On the flip side, Infosys, HDFC Life, SBI Life, ONGC, TCS, Max Healthcare, Tata Motors PV, Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, Jio Financial Services and ITC were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,645 shares were declining while 1,369 were advancing on the NSE.