Indian equity markets turned positive on Wednesday , recovering from earlier losses, as investors flocked to large financial stocks, seen as having strong valuations. Global cues remained supportive as Asian markets traded higher, while the US stock market rallied overnight as voting was underway in an extremely tight US presidential election to elect the world’s largest economy’s 47th President, with voters choosing between Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump.
The Sensex opened at 79,771.82, up from its previous close of 79,476.63, and is currently trading at 79,907.88, marking a rise of 431.25 points or 0.54 per cent. Nifty opened at 24,308.75, up from its previous close of 24,213.30, and is trading at 24,351.20, reflecting a gain of 137.90 points or 0.57 per cent. Dr Reddy’s Lab led the gainers on NSE, rising 2.51 per cent, followed by Trent (2.08 per cent), BEL (2.01 per cent), HCL Tech (1.93 per cent), and Infosys (1.39 per cent). Among the top losers were Titan, dropping 3.08 per cent, Tata Steel declining 1.30 per cent, SBI Life falling 0.74 per cent, JSW Steel down 0.70 per cent, and Hindalco slipping 0.69 per cent.
IT stocks posted strong gains, lifting the Nifty IT sectoral index higher despite ongoing uncertainty surrounding the 2024 US election outcome. The Nifty IT index jumped over 3% with stocks such as Persistent Systems, LTIMindtree, TCS, Infosys and Wipro, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra jumping 3-4%. The IT pack was up with gains of 3.05% with all 10 components in the green. Bank Nifty index traded higher above the 52,300 level on Wednesday led by gains in Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB) and ICICI Bank.Among sectoral indices, Nifty IT, Nifty Realty, Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Auto and Nifty PSU Banks were trading in the green, while Nifty Metal and Nifty FMCG declined.