NIFTY50 trades above 23,200, SENSEX jumps 150 points; IT, Bank and Pharma stocks lead the gains

Indian benchmark indices recoup early losses to trade higher on Thursday morning. The NIFTY50 gaines 35 points to trade above 23,200 levels and the SENSEX jumped 155 points to trade above 76,560 levels at 9:45 am. IT stocks like Wipro, Persistent, TCS and infosys led the gains. While, the FMCG stocks fell on Thursday morning led by HUL which fell 3.3%.

Sectorally, NIFTY IT and NIFTY Financial Services were the top two gainers on Thursday morning, and NIFTY FMCG and NIFTY Realty were the top two losers.

Top gainers and losers.

BPCL, Ultratech Cement, HDFC Bank, TCS, and Asian Paints opened as the top gainers, with gains of 1.66%. Hindustan Unilever, SBI, LT, Nestle India, and ICICI Bank were the top losers, with losses of up to 3.3%.

The broader indices traded mixed with nearly 128 gains on the NIFTY mid-cap 100 and 9 points losses on the NIFTY small-cap.

Stock specific developments

Hindustan Unilever opened 3.5% lower on Thursday morning to trade at ₹2259 apiece after the company reported muted earnings in Q3FY25. The net profit for the quarter jumped 19% YoY due to a time exceptional gain of ₹574 crore. The company approved the de-merger of the ice-cream business and acquired the beauty and wellness brand Minimalist for cash consideration of ₹2,600 crore.

Oil-sensitive stocks extend gains

Crude oil prices continued to trade lower on the fifth consecutive day as US crude oil inventories rose, and the pro-economic policies in the US are expected to boost energy supply in the global markets. The WTI and Brend crude oil prices fell nearly 5% from the recent highs to trade near $75 and $78 per barrel. Following the development, oil-sensitive stocks like BPCL, HPCL, Asian Paints, and Indigo Paints gained in the early trade in the morning.

IT stocks lead the gains

NIFTY IT opened as a top gainer on Thursday morning as index heavyweight IT companies, including Wipro, TCS, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies, traded with gains of 2% to 3%. The mid-size IT companies like Coforge Persistent traded nearly 10% higher in the early morning deals on Thursday. The gains were largely driven by a strong rally in the tech stocks in the US and taking cues from strong Q3 results reported after market hours on Wednesday.