Indian stock market opens in green, metal stocks lead early buying

Mumbai (The Uttam Hindu): The Indian stock market opened on a positive note on Friday. At 9:21 AM, the Sensex was up 386 points (0.45%) at 85,203, while the Nifty rose 111 points (0.43%) to 26,010.

Metal stocks were the biggest contributors to the early market gains, with the Nifty Metal Index trading over 1.5% higher. Apart from metals, sectors such as auto, financial services, realty, energy, private banks, infrastructure, PSUs, services, and healthcare were also in the green. All segments large-cap, mid-cap, and small-capwere trading positively. The Nifty Midcap 100 gained 239 points (0.40%) to 59,817, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 climbed 87 points (0.51%) to 17,315.

Among Sensex gainers were L&T, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, BEL, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, Trent, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki, Power Grid, ICICI Bank, and Asian Paints. Meanwhile, HUL, ITC, Sun Pharma, Infosys, and SBI were among the losers. Strong global cues and resilience in the domestic economy were seen as the driving factors behind the positive market sentiment. Retail inflation data is expected later in the day, with forecasts suggesting it will remain at a lower level.

Global markets were also trading higher. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul, and Jakarta were in the green, while Shanghai was in the red. U.S. markets were also trading positively. Crude oil prices were rising, with Brent crude up 0.67% at $61.69 per barrel and WTI crude up 0.71% at $58.01 per barrel. On the other hand, precious metals were under pressure—gold on COMEX fell 0.29% to $4,300 per ounce, and silver dropped 1.07% to $63.91 per ounce.