Indian stocks saw the light on Friday morning with benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rebounding on a slip in global crude oil prices and overall greenery across Asian and US stock markets.
Domestic investors in India shed caution to pick up shares at a discount, pushing the Sensex up 279 points and Nifty by 90 points shortly after the opening bell.
The 30-pack Sensex hit as high as 74,593.82 and the Nifty 50 surged to a peak of 23,360.55 in morning trade.
The cooling oil prices added to the positive sentiment, with Brent crude slipping to around $104 per barrel as investors felt hopeful about alternative shipping routes that are expected to keep Middle Eastern supplies flowing despite the ongoing conflict.
Wall Street’s overnight tech-led rally added to the confidence, with investors in India picking heavyweights such as Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, and Larsen & Toubro on Friday.
However, the market also saw red when it came to one of India’s biggest conglomerates, with a sharp sell-off in Tata Group firms.
Shares of TCS, Tata Motors, and Tata Chemicals dropped between 2.5 per cent and 7 per cent, pulling down the broader technology and auto sectors.
This came after the fresh boardroom storm at Bombay House, where Tata Trusts declared a resolution reappointing N. Chandrasekaran as Tata Sons chairman void, thereby reopening the high-stakes governance battle that had cooled down last month.
Another thing that dampened activity was that institutional and retail capital is temporarily locked up in IPO applications. Currently, there are five major public issues open for bidding—including the massive initial public offering of the National Stock Exchange itself.
Despite all this, the markets have moved up on cooling crude and bargain stock hunting. If this persists through the day, the stock markets could close the trading week in the green.
