Sensex up 100 pts, RIL leads; TV18 group shares down 5%

Benchmark indices started Thursday’s trading session on a tentative note following yesterday’s sharp fall. Market participants will be looking forward for the F&O monthly expiry and Q3 GDP numbers for direction.

The S&P BSE Sensex was seen swinging between zones in early deals. The NSE Nifty 50 quoted below the 21,950 level.

Among the Sensex 30 stocks, Reliance Industries was up over 1 per cent after the Mukesh Ambani-led firm, Viacom18 Media and The Walt Disney entered into an agreement to create a $8.5 billion entertainment giant in India.

Mahindra & Mahindra, SBI and Titan were the other notable movers. On the other hand, Power Grid was down 1 per cent at Rs 277. UltraTech Cement, Nestle and NTPC were the other visible losers.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices continued to reel under selling pressure were down nearly 1 per cent each.

Among individual shares, Shriram Finance gained 2 per cent after NSE said it will be replacing UPL in the benchmark Nifty 50 w.e.f. March 28. The latter was down 1 per cent.

Global cues

Asian shares were mostly in red barring Straits Times which advanced 0.4 per cent. Kospi shed 0.7 per cent, Nikkei dipped 0.5 per cent and Taiwan was down 0.2 per cent.

On Wednesday, the US market ended slightly lower a day ahead of a key inflation reading that could heavily influence expectations on timing of rate cuts. Dow and the S&P 500 were marginally in red, while Nasdaq slipped 0.6 per cent.

The 10-year US Treasury bond yield hovered around 4.29 per cent. Whereas, Brent Crude Oil futures consolidated around $82 per barrel. Meanwhile, Bitcoin zoomed past the $60,000-mark for the first time since November 2021.