Indian stock market opens higher, Nifty above 24,700

Mumbai, May 23 The Indian benchmark indices opened higher on Friday amid mixed global cues, as buying was seen in the FMCG, IT and auto sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.29 am, Sensex was trading 281.75 points or 0.35 per cent up at 81,233.74 while the Nifty added 109.75 point or 0.45 per cent at 24,719.45

Nifty Bank was up 69.85 points or 0.13 per cent at 55,011.15 The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 56,582.95 after adding 258.10 points or 0.46 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 17,561.40 after climbing 58.30 points or 0.33 per cent.

According to analysts, the silver lining from the market perspective is India’s strong macros, particularly the resilient growth and declining inflation and interest rates.

In the Sensex pack, ITC, Adani Ports, Infosys, PowerGrid, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, SBI, HCL Tech, UltraTech Cement, Tata Motors and Eternal were the top gainers. Whereas, Sun Pharma, M&M, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki and ICICI Bank were the top losers.

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

In the last trading session, Dow Jones in the US closed at 41,859.09, down 1.35 points, or 0.00 per cent. The S&P 500 ended with a loss of 2.60 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 5,842.01 and the Nasdaq closed at 18,925.74, up 53.09 points, or 0.28 per cent.

"US stocks closed mixed on Thursday after a volatile session, with major indices erasing early losses as Treasury yields retreated from recent highs following the House passage of President Trump's tax and spending legislation," said experts.

On the institutional front, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers as they sold equities worth 5,045.36 crore on May 22, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities worth 3,715.00 crore.

“Even when the market turns weak, domestic demand driven segments like financials, telecom, aviation etc are resilient and this is reflected in the strength in the stock prices of the big boys in these segments like ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and Interglobe Aviation. This message from the market is important,” said Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd.

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