Stock market opens higher, auto stocks lead rally over GST booster

Mumbai, Sep 8 The Indian benchmark indices opened higher on Monday over the GST booster, amid tariff-related uncertainty between India and the US.

As of 9.35 am, Sensex was up 280 points or 0.35 per cent, at 80,991, and Nifty was up 84 points or 0.34 per cent, at 24,825. The broadcap indices, Nifty Midcap 100 inched up by 0.77 per cent, and the Nifty smallcap 100 inched up 0.72 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Auto was the top gainer, rising 1.52 per cent, followed by Nifty Metal and Nifty Realty. In the Nifty pack, Tata Steel (up 2.57 per cent), Tata Steel, Tata Motors NTPC, Hindalco and SBI were the major gainers, while losers included SBI Life Insurance, Asian Paints, Dr Reddys Labs, Titan Company and Trent.

Analysts said that on the technical front, Nifty showed resilience after last week’s sharp midweek sell-off, rebounding strongly from the 100-day EMA near 24,633. The index formed a hammer candlestick pattern on the daily chart, indicating buying interest at lower levels.

The GST Council has reduced rates across insurance, medicines, and daily essentials, providing significant relief to households, farmers, and industries.

"Key support is placed around 24,600–24,280, where the 100-day and 200-day EMAs converge. A decisive close above the 25,000 mark will be critical to confirm the next leg of upside, potentially opening the path toward the 25,500–25,675 supply zone," said Amruta Shinde from Choice Broking.

Analysts said that the heightened uncertainty surrounding the US-India trade relations will continue to weigh on markets.

However, US President Donald Trump’s recent statements regarding the “special US-India ties” indicate improvement in the strained relationship.

"Rumours suggest potential restrictions on India's IT exports, despite the fact that reciprocal tariffs have not yet affected trade in services. These concerns will continue to influence the market, which got a morale boost from the GST reforms. The euphoria from GST reform was short-lived since the market had already partly discounted the GST rate cuts," said Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.

The US markets ended in the red zone on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped by 0.48 per cent, while the Nasdaq declined by 0.03 per cent and the S&P 500 dipped 0.32 per cent.

The Asian markets traded mixed. China's Shanghai index inched up 0.16 per cent, and Shenzhen added 0.18 per cent. Japan's Nikkei was up 1.42 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.36 per cent. South Korea's Kospi inched up 0.2 per cent.

On Friday, foreign investors (FIIs/FPIs) turned net sellers with outflows worth Rs 1,304 crore of Indian equities, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 1,821 crore.

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