Indian stock market opens higher over strong GDP growth data

Mumbai:  The Indian benchmark indices opened higher on Monday as key economic indicators, including GDP growth and strong GST collections, were in line with the expectations. Buying was seen in the auto and IT sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.39 am, Sensex was trading 133.58 points or 0.18 per cent up at 73,331.68 while the Nifty added 46.25 points or 0.21 per cent at 22,170.95.

Nifty Bank was up 35.50 points or 0.07 per cent at 48,380.20 The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 47,947.55 after adding 32.35 points or 0.07 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 14,732.40 after gaining 32.20 points or 0.22 per cent.

According to experts, there is good news on India’s growth front.

The Q3 GDP growth numbers picking up from 5.6 per cent in Q2 to 6.2 per cent in Q3 and suggesting above 7 per cent growth in Q4 is indicative of cyclical recovery which bodes well for the stock market, they said.

According to market watchers, Nifty may face key resistance at 22,300, and a breakout above this level could drive further gains towards 22,530 and 22,670.

“On the downside, immediate support is placed at 21,929, a crucial level for monthly trends. A breakdown below this mark could push the index lower towards 21,718, reinforcing a cautious outlook as Nifty struggles to maintain support at critical levels,” said Hardik Matalia from Choice Broking.

Meanwhile, in the Sensex pack, UltraTech Cement, M&M, Infosys, Zomato, L&T, Adani Ports, PowerGrid, ICICI Bank, TCS, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel were the top gainers. Whereas, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top losers.

In the last trading session on Friday, Dow Jones added 1.39 per cent to close at 43,840.91. The S&P 500 climbed 1.59 per cent to 5,954.50 and the Nasdaq added 1.63 per cent to close at 18,847.28.

In the Asian markets, Only Bangkok was trading in the red. China, Japan, Jakarta and Hong Kong were trading in green.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued their selling on seventh day in a row, as they sold equities worth Rs 11,639.02 crore on February 28. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 12,308.63 crore, on the same day.

–IANS