Indian stock market opens higher, Nifty above 23,200

Mumbai: The Indian stock market opened higher on Wednesday as buying was seen in the auto, IT and PSU bank sectors.

At around 9.26 am, Sensex was trading at 76,758.37 after rising 258.74 points or 0.34 per cent, while Nifty was trading at 23,225.50 after climbing 49.45 points or 0.21 per cent.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,263 stocks were trading in green, while 289 stocks were in red.

Nifty Bank was up 154.60 points or 0.32 per cent at 48,883.75. Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 53,846.40 after adding 169.90 points or 0.32 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 17,329.05 after climbing 71.25 points or 0.41 per cent.

According to experts, market will witness lots of stock-specific action in response to the Q3 results.

Market has been rewarding performers, delivering better-than-expected results and punishing those delivering worse-than-expected results.

“With only five more days to go for Donald Trump’s inauguration as US President, soon there will be clarity on Trump’s actions and its likely impact on the markets. It appears that the dollar and US bond yields have peaked for now,” said market watchers.

Meanwhile, in the Sensex pack, Maruti Suzuki, Zomato, NTPC, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HCL Tech, Power Grid and L&T were the top gainers. Whereas, M&M, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India and Axis Bank were the top losers.

The Dow Jones climbed 0.52 per cent to close at 42,518.28. The S&P 500 raised 0.11 per cent to 5,842.91 and the Nasdaq declined 0.23 per cent to close at 19,044.39 in the last trading session.

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

There are reports that Trump will begin with low tariff hikes putting pressure on major exporters to the US, even while leaving room for negotiations.

If this scenario plays out, further rise in dollar and US bond yields will be arrested. Till then, the FII selling will continue, preempting any rally in the market, according to experts..

In the meantime, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 8,132.26 crore on January 14, on the other hand domestic institutional bought equities worth Rs 7,901.06 crore on the same day.

—IANS