Sensex gains over 200 pts, Nifty at 17,677; Asian Paints, Titan surge

Domestic equities opened nearly flat on Thursday, as investors focus on IT stocks, ahead of HCLTech’s quarterly results due today. BSE benchmark Sensex opened 27.04 per cent, or, 0.05 per cent up at 59,594.84, while, broader NSE Nifty50 gained 0.95 points, or 0.01 per cent to open at 17,619.70.

Pharma stocks plunged at the open, as the Nifty Healthcare Index was down 0.28 per cent, followed by Nifty Pharma at 0.21 per cent. Meanwhile, Nifty Realty was down 0.07 per cent.

Indices inched higher soon after opening flat led by gains in Titan and Asian Paints. By 9.25 am, Sensex jumped 216.14 points or 0.36 per cent to 59,783.94, while Nifty gained 58.05 points, or 0.33 per cent to 17,676.80.

IT stocks jumped at the open, as the Nifty IT index gained 0.35 per cent. TCS was up 0.68 per cent at opening, after a LinkedIn report stated that it was the best company in India to work. Wipro gained 0.55 per cent, meanwhile, HCLTech and Infosys were trading nearly 0.30 per cent higher at open.

Broader markets also extended gains, as Nifty Microcap 250 jumped 0.62 per cent, Nifty Smallcap 250 gained 0.47 per cent, Nifty Midcap Select was up 0.37 per cent, while, Nifty Smallcap 50 was trading 0.36 per cent higher.

Titan, Asian Paints, ITC, L&T, TCS, Wipro, Adani Enterprises were among the top gainers at open today, while, Divis Lab, Apollo Hospitals, Cipla, Eicher Motors, ONGC, Axis Bank, Reliance, Bajaj Finance, and SBI were the top losing stocks at this hour.