Sensex Opening Bell: Stock market regains green; Sensex strengthens 300 points, Nifty crosses 25850

New Delhi| Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty returned to greenery on Tuesday. Investors booked profits at almost record levels in the last session due to which the market closed on the red mark. However, on Tuesday, index heavyweight stocks Reliance Industries, IT and banking stocks showed gains. At 9:19 am the BSE Sensex was seen trading at 84,6028, up 328 points, or 0.39%. The Nifty50 appeared to be trading at 25,895, up 85 points or 0.33%.

HDFC Bank, Infosys, L&T, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and Tech Mahindra made the biggest contribution to the Sensex gain, while Asian Paints, JSW Steel, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel and HUL declined. On the domestic front, auto shares rose as much as 1.6% before monthly sales data was released later in the day. Ashok Leyland was the biggest gainer in Nifty Auto Index. The Nifty IT index rose 0.9% after comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, led by Tech Mahindra, Infosys and Mphasis, dampened hopes of another significant rate cut.

The U.S. central bank will likely stick to policy rate cuts after new data boosts confidence in economic growth and consumer spending, Jerome Powl Powell indicated Monday. Among individual stocks, SpiceJet recorded a gain of 5.5%. Gujarat-based Plutus Wealth Management has acquired 85 lakh shares of SpiceJet, worth Rs 51 crore, through a block deal. After this news, the airline’s shares registered a strength.

Asian shares hit a two-and-a-half-year high on Tuesday. MSCI’s largest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan eased 0.13% to 620.05 on Tuesday, just below the two-and-a-half-year high of 627.66 touched on Monday. So far this year, the index has risen by 17%. Japan’s Nikkei rose 1.5% in early trade after falling 4.8% on Monday.

Speaking of FIIs/DIIs, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equity worth Rs 9,792 crore on 30 September. Domestic institutional investors increased their purchases on the same day with equity purchases of Rs 6,645 crore. Crude oil prices changed on Tuesday as strong supply prospects and slowing global demand eased concerns that rising tensions in the Middle East could affect production. The Indian rupee fell 2 paise to 83.81 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, reflecting the movement of the dollar against the six major world currencies, rose by 0.05% to a level of 100.82.