Indian stock market opens higher, Nifty above 24,400

Mumbai, Dec 5 : The Indian stock market opened in green on Thursday, as buying was seen in the Nifty IT sector in early trade. At around 9:41 am, Sensex was trading at 81,059.44 after gaining 103.11 points or 0.13 per cent, while the Nifty was trading at 24,488.65 after rising 21.20 points or 0.09 per cent.

The market trend remained positive. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,291 stocks were trading in green, while 993 stocks were in red. Market experts said the US markets are in a boom. Fed chief Powell’s comment that “the economy is in good shape” is an inspiration for US bulls. “However, there is a concern that valuations are rising in the US.

This concern of high valuation remains for India as well. They said that valuations can rise in a bull market, so caution should be exercised,” they added. Regarding FII sellings, experts said that “FIIs turning buyers is positive for markets, particularly for large caps”.

The strength in banking stocks has the potential to take the Bank Nifty towards all-time highs. This can help Nifty too to move higher, they added. Nifty Bank was down 53.40 points or 0.10 per cent at 53,213.50. Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 58,206.55 after gaining 94.15 points or 0.16 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 19,241.45 after gaining 67.90 points or 0.35 per cent. Akshay Chinchalkar of Axis Securities said, “The Nifty rose for the fourth straight day yesterday, a streak that was last witnessed a day before the September 27 record peak.” In the Sensex pack, Infosys, TCS, Bharti Airtel, Ultra Tech Cement, Titan, Tech Mahindra, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finance and Axis Bank were the top gainers.

NTPC, JSW Steel, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank and Maruti were the top losers. In Asian markets, the markets of China and Japan were trading in green. while Seoul, Jakarta, Bangkok and Hong Kong were trading in red. The US stock markets closed in green on the previous trading day. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,797 crore on December 4, while domestic institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 900 crore on the same day.