Indian equity markets started Friday’s session on a cautious note, with financial stocks providing support as a steep fall in information technology shares limited overall gains following their strong performance in recent sessions.
At 10:30 AM, the BSE Sensex was trading over 30 points higher, gaining 0.04% to reach 77,959. The NSE Nifty50 rose 33 points, or 0.14%, to trade at 24,351.
Financial counters emerged as the key drivers of the market. Bajaj Finance gained 3.84% following its quarterly results and became the biggest Sensex gainer. Bajaj Finserv advanced 3.10%, while stocks including Mahindra & Mahindra, BEL, Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki and SBI also recorded gains.
Meanwhile, IT stocks witnessed profit booking after their recent rally. The Nifty IT index declined 3.26%, making it the weakest-performing sector. Infosys dropped 3.64%, TCS fell 3.54%, HCLTech declined 3.27% and Tech Mahindra slipped 2.41%.
Most other sectors maintained a positive trend. Auto stocks gained 0.80%, Financial Services ex-Bank rose 1.37%, Financial Services advanced 0.66%, PSU Bank increased 0.60% and Chemicals gained 0.59%. However, Realty, FMCG and Media stocks traded lower.
The broader market showed mixed movement in early trade. While the Nifty 100, Nifty 200 and Nifty 500 posted marginal gains, midcap and smallcap indices remained under pressure. India VIX declined nearly 2% to 11.92, reflecting lower market volatility.
Crude oil prices eased after recent gains, with Brent crude declining 0.98% to $88.16 per barrel and WTI crude falling 1.62% to $82.24 per barrel. The decline in oil prices provided some relief over inflation concerns.
The Indian rupee strengthened at the opening session, rising 0.3% to 95.3850 against the US dollar compared with the previous close of 95.68. The currency gained support from continued foreign investment inflows and lower crude prices.
