Sensex regains 53,000-mark at open, Nifty near 15,950; Asian Paints, HDFC top gainers

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Indian benchmark equity indices opened higher on Tuesday tracking gains in index heavyweights Asian Paints, HDFC, PowerGrid. The 30-share BSE Sensex opened 238 points or 0.45% higher at 53,188, while NSE Nifty advanced 47 points or 0.30% at 15,932.

“The 15,550 – 15,950 Nifty range, which has been holding in July, is likely to be broken in August. Even though FIIs have been pressing sales at the upper end of the band (FIIs sold stocks worth Rs 1540 yesterday also), the market momentum is not in their favour now. Fundamental support to the bulls has been coming from good corporate results. Now the macros are turning very positive with the declining fiscal deficit, rising tax collections, and now the excellent performance in exports which have shot by 48% in July. The PMI at 55.3 indicates a potential sharp turnaround in economic activity. This can embolden the bulls to take Nifty beyond 15950 early in August unless FIIs turn massive sellers at those levels,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Gainers & losers

Sectoral strand

All major sectoral indices opened in the green. Nifty Realty, up nearly 1%, was the top sectoral gainer followed by Nifty IT index rallying 0.61%. Nifty Auto and Nifty FMCG rose 0.55% and 0.49% respectively. Nifty Pharma, Nifty Bank and Nifty Metal added 0.07-0.20%.

Broader markets

The broader market mirrored the gains in the benchmark indices. BSE MidCap index rose 0.29% to 23,398 after hitting a new lifetime high of 23,442 whereas the BSE SmallCap index was at 27,176 rallying as much as 0.39%. Even the BSE SmallCap index touched a new peak of 27,232.

Overall market breadth was positive as 1,761 shares advanced compared to 808 declined while 90 remained unchanged.

Earnings today

Bharti Airtel, Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Bajaj Healthcare, Bank of India, Barbeque-Nation Hospitality, CARE Ratings, Dabur India, Dhampur Sugar Mills, Prataap Snacks, ELGI Equipments, Everest Industries, Godrej Properties, IIFL Wealth Management, Inox Leisure, Indian Overseas Bank, Kajaria Ceramics, Kalpataru Power Transmission, Munjal Showa, Neuland Laboratories, NOCIL, Shipping Corporation of India, Simplex Realty, Tata Consumer Products, Transport Corporation of India, and TRF will announce their quarterly earnings today.

Global markets

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading mixed on Tuesday as the Delta coronavirus variant spread in key markets in the region and put Chinese authorities on high alert, rattling investor confidence.

U.S. stocks gave up early gains and turned negative for the session on Monday as concerns about Covid variants and peaking economic growth weighed against strong earnings results.