Sensex gains 100 pts at open, Nifty around 18,350 levels; IT stocks rally

Domestic equities opened higher on Friday tracking mixed global sentiments. BSE benchmark Sensex opened 119.19 points, or 0.19 per cent higher at 61,985.36, while, broader NSE Nifty50 gained 30.10 points, or 0.16 per cent to open at 18,351.25.

IT stocks were the top gainers in the opening trade, as the Nifty IT index soared 0.61 per cent. Tech Mahindra soared 0.79 per cent, HCLTech gained 0.76 per cent, Wipro gained 0.72 per cent, while Infosys jumped 0.65 per cent.

Apart from IT stocks, Adani Enterprises, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Reliance, UltraTech Cement, and Asian Paints were the top gaining stocks in the opening trade.

On the other hand, Power Grid, Grasim, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, HDFC, Nestle India, and ICICI Bank were the top losers at the time of writing.

Broader markets were also trading higher in the opening trade, as Nifty Microcap 250 jumped 0.44 per cent, Nifty Smallcap 250 climbed 0.25 per cent, Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 0.24 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 50 rose 0.18 per cent.

Sectorally, after the IT index, the oil & gas stocks gained 0.39 per cent, Nifty metal gained 0.26 per cent, and the Nifty Realty index gained 0.22 per cent. Meanwhile, pharma and private bank indices were the top losers.