Sensex rises 200 points, Nifty nears 17,700 ahead of March quarter earnings
Indian equity indices opened higher on Tuesday ahead of the corporate earnings season for the March quarter.
The Nifty 50 index rose 64 points or 0.36% to 17,688, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 202 points or 0.34% to 60,049, as of 9.17 am.
From the Sensex pack, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma and Bajaj Finserv were the top gainers, rising about 1-4%. Nestle, SBI, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, and Tata Steel also opened with gains.
On the flip side, TCS, Asian Paints, HDFC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank saw some losses.
Shares of Bank of Baroda surged nearly 4% in early trade as the lender’s total advances grew 19% YoY for the quarter ended March 2023. Also, the PSU lender revised one-year MCLR to 8.6% from 8.55%, effective April 12.
IRB Infra shares also rose over 3% after record toll collection of Rs 3.7 billion in March 2023.
On the sectoral front, Nifty PSU Bank advanced 1.83% and Nifty Metal rose 0.65%. Banks, financials, auto, pharma, realty, consumer durables and oil & gas stocks also opened with gains. In the broader market, Nifty Smallcap50 rose 0.29% and Nifty Midcap50 gained 0.33%.
Experts View
“There are key economic readings and corporate earnings announcements this week which can give some indication on whether the current rally would sustain or lose steam in the near term,” Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities, said.
“All eyes will be on local CPI inflation and IIP numbers along with US inflation numbers to be released on Wednesday, while TCS & Infosys will announce their quarterly numbers on Wednesday & Thursday,” Tapse added.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities said Nifty could remain in the 17,530-17,772 band over the next 1-2 sessions.
Global Markets
Wall Street stocks finished mostly higher on Monday, shaking off early weakness ahead of key inflation data and bank earnings in the coming days.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3% at 33,586. The broad-based S&P 500 edged up 0.1% to 4,109, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell less than 0.1% to 12,084.
Asian markets mostly rose Tuesday after an Easter break that thinned trading volumes in the region, with focus now turning to the release of US inflation data later in the week. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index advanced 1.0% in early trading. Hong Kong stocks were tech sector gains, with the benchmark Hang Seng climbing 0.9%.
Crude price rises
Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday as market participants weighed supply cuts from OPEC+ that would tighten the global market against concerns about further interest rate hikes potentially hurting demand. Investors were awaiting a slate of reports on inflation, oil demand and supply due this week that could give the market direction.
Brent crude rose 51 cents at $84.69 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate gained 57 cents to $80.31 a barrel.
Rupee flat
The Indian rupee rose 3 paise to $81.96 against the US dollar in early trade with traders assessing the outlook for US yields and keeping a watch on importers’ demand for the greenback.
The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, declined 0.20% to 102.37 level.