Sensex Gains 150 Points, Nifty Above 22,650; Kotak Bank Down 2%

Equity benchmark indices opened in green on Thursday with BSE Sensex rising 150 points to 74,639 and the NSE Nifty50 soaring 41 points to 22,646.

Tata Motors, M&M, Reliance, Ultratech Cement, HDFC Bank led the gains on the Sensex, while HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance, HUl and Axis Bank were trading in red.

On other hand, BPCL and JSW Steel were among top gainers on NSE Nifty 50 while Hindalco, Maruti, Divis Labs and Bharti Airtel were among the top losers.

The broader markets opened strong with both the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices gaining 0.61 and 0.44 per cent respectively.

Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Pharma, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Consumer Durables lead sectoral gains on NSE.

Expert Take: Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Geojit Financial

As trading for May begins there are mixed cues for the market, but broadly positives outweigh negatives. The Fed commentary is cautious. The domestic cues are strongly positive. It appears that the market is discounting India’s growth outperformance. In April while the S&P 500 is down by 4.2%, Nifty is up by 0.7%. This outperformance can continue.

Asian stocks experienced a hesitant beginning on Thursday after the Federal Reserve hinted at potential delays in interest rate cuts. Concurrently, the dollar saw significant depreciation against the yen, with traders speculating on Japanese intervention.

On Wednesday, US stocks concluded with a mixed performance following the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain its key interest rate, as anticipated. The Fed hinted that its next step is likely to be a rate cut, but cautioned that sustained progress on inflation is not guaranteed.