Amid easing of tensions between the government and the central bank and strong global cues, the domestic stock market began its business on a positive note on Thursday. In the first few minutes of the trade, the Sensex traded at 34,580.22, up 138.17 points or 0.40 percent and the Nifty at 10,415, with a gain of 28.40 points or 0.27 percent.
Notably, the Sensex opened at 34,650.63 as compared to its last close of 34,442.05. While the Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) started at 10,441.70 against its previous close of 10,386.60. The Sensex hit an intraday high of 34,679.93 and the Nifty of 10,441.90.
Thirty-one out of 50 Nifty stocks advanced in trade. Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Petroleum, Indian Oil, Bharti Infratel, and Hindalco were the top five Nifty gainers. In the sectoral landscape, metal stocks led the gains — the Nifty Metal index was up 0.44 percent. IT stocks were, however, under pressure as the Nifty IT index declined 1.59 percent.
Meanwhile, the Indian rupee strengthened marginally against the US dollar. The rupee was trading at 73.85 a dollar, up 0.12 percent from its Wednesday’s close of 73.96. The currency opened at 73.89 a dollar.
In the commodities market, oil prices extended previous session’s losses, amid signs of rising supply and growing concerns that demand might weaken on the prospect of a global economic slowdown. In the global market, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.9 percent, adding to modest gains the previous day.
According to provisional NSE data, on Wednesday, foreign portfolio investors sold while domestic institutional investors purchased net shares of Rs 193.65 and Rs 1,124.92 crore respectively.