Indian equity markets opened higher on Thursday, supported by hopes of a US-Iran peace agreement and stronger-than-expected June-quarter earnings, with the Sensex rising 200 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 78,782.43 and the Nifty gaining eight points, or 0.03 per cent, to 24,632.65.
Information technology, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and healthcare stocks led the early gains.
The Nifty IT, Nifty Chemicals, Nifty Pharma and Nifty 500 Healthcare indices rose by as much as 0.50 per cent.
Cement, metal, automobile and property shares faced selling pressure, with their respective sectoral indices declining by up to 0.52 per cent.
Trent, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Hindalco Industries, JSW Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel and Bajaj Auto ranked among the major Nifty losers.
Market analysts said the August monetary policy announcement had little effect on investor sentiment. They believe that the central bank remains unlikely to raise interest rates soon, limiting the policy’s near-term impact on rate-sensitive sectors.
Financial and automobile companies continued to perform well because of strong fundamentals and robust demand.
Analysts said encouraging first-quarter results from non-banking financial companies and carmakers indicated sustained growth.
Pharmaceutical and telecommunications companies also reported healthy earnings and offered a positive outlook.
FIIs sold shares worth ₹943 crore, while DIIs invested ₹2,883 crore.
Iran-Oman peace efforts and falling crude prices also supported sentiment, with Brent below $80 and WTI at $74.64 per barrel.
Also Read: Stock Market Today: Sensex, Nifty End Higher After RBI Holds Repo Rate
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