Indian Shares Edge Higher Led by Advances In IT And Auto Stocks

The Indian equities recovered their previous day losses and bounced back higher on Thursday and posted a gap-up opening led by positive cues from global peers as both US and Singaporean markets operated higher and directed a positive opening for the Indian benchmarks. The markets were also trading higher backed by the positive sentiment within the investors as the new financial year starts today and further holds strong expectations from Q4.

Sensex opened higher by 358.57 points at 49867.72, while the Nifty-50 was at 14,793.30, up 102.60 points. The gains were led by advances in IT and Auto stocks as both the sectors outperformed at market opening. 

Shares of HCL Tech, Wipro, JSW Steel, and Bajaj Auto made to the top gainers of the index in the early trade on Thursday. The stock prices of the top four companies added nearly two per cent each at the opening. JSW Steel marked its new record high of Rs 481.50 after the company's rating was upgraded to stable from negative by rating firm Moody's. 

Wipro was the top newsmaker and company with a major focus on market opening after the company closed a deal to acquire Ampion, an Australia-based provider of cybersecurity, DevOps, and quality engineering services, for $ 117 million. The stock price gained over two per cent from its previous close of Rs 414.15.

However, the rally in the Information Technology stocks was also backed by cues from U.S markets as they closed higher on Thursday led by major gains in technology stocks. Shares of Apple rose nearly two per cent in the day's trade. 

Among the sectors in the domestic markets, all sectors witnessed buying and posted gains except for the Realty sector as it stayed under pressure. The Nifty IT index was the top mover as it gained nearly 1.5 per cent at market opening backed by advances in shares of COFORGE Ltd. and L&T Infotech. 

On the flipside, HDFC twins, IOC, and UPL made to the top losers of the index as selling pressure weighed the stocks to trade lower.

In the overall market breadth, around 1386 shares posted gains and 242 shares declined in the National Stock Exchange.