Indian Markets Bounce at Opening; Realty, Bank Advances Outweigh IT Slide

Mumbai, April 10: Indian equity indices recovered from their opening lows to trade higher Friday, as selective buying returned to banks, realty and auto stocks while technology shares came under selling pressure. BSE Sensex advanced 511 points or 0.67% to 77,143 as of 9: 32 am and NSE Nifty 50 rose 161 points or 0.68% to 23,936 as of 9:31 am — clawing back some of the losses from Thursday’s steep 931-point plunge in the Sensex that had erased much of Wednesday’s headline-grabbing ceasefire-driven rally.

Global Cues

Wall Street’s overnight gains are helping Asian markets set a bullish tone today but nervousness surrounding Iran-Israel tensions is also keeping traders cautious as markets weigh the likelihood of a sustained ceasefire vs. risk of renewed hostilities ahead of peace talks in Islamabad later this weekend. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz had stopped following what it described as an Israeli ceasefire violation in Lebanon, while President Trump demanded Iran stop charging tolls for tankers crossing the strategic waterway.

Asian Markets

Japanese markets are leading the regional charge with Nikkei 225 surging 1.77% to 56,886 on strong gains on Wall Street overnight while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.58% to 25,900 and Shanghai Composite is gaining 0.63% to 3,991. Indonesia’s JSX Composite Index is up 0.39% and Thailand’s SET Index added 0.91% as markets broadly cheered Wednesday’s ceasefire announcement between Iran and the US while investors in Australia, Malaysia and Vietnam are seeing weaker openings with ASX All Ordinaries down 0.40%, KLCI losing 0.44% and Vietnam’s HNX 30 dipping 0.75%.

US Markets

US stocks closed higher Wednesday on ceasefire news with Dow climbing 2.85% and Nasdaq jumping 2.80% — positive cues that are also supporting Indian markets at the open Friday.

Top Gainers and Losers: Banks Surge, IT Stocks Extend Losses

Top gainers at the open included Asian Paints, up 3.13% at ₹2,340 from its previous close of ₹2,269; Shriram Finance added 2.78% to ₹1,024 from ₹996; Eicher Motors jumped 2.67% to ₹7,338 from ₹7,147 and Axis Bank rose 2.35% to ₹1,349 from ₹1,318; ICICI Bank advanced 2.24% to ₹1,310 from ₹1,281 — with financial stocks clearly dominating the early movers board. Losers were led by the technology pack, with Sun Pharma losing 3.21% to ₹1,662 from its previous close of ₹1,717; Infosys declined 3.15% to ₹1,289 from ₹1,331 and TCS dropped 2.99% to ₹2,511 from ₹2,589 — as worries about global tech spending weighed on market sentiment and both IT majors also nursed losses on track with weakness in euro as expectations for rupee recovery pare export earnings optimism. HCL Technologies fell 2.38% to ₹1,430 and Tech Mahindra declined 2.09% to ₹1,431 apiece, leaving IT easily the worst performing sector at the Indian open.

Broad Markets Open Bullish

India’s broad market indices opened on a bullish note with Nifty Bank rising 1.74% to 55,775 and Nifty Financial Services jumping 1.76% to 26,136 as private sector as well as PSU banks saw broad-based buying interest. Nifty Midcap 100 gained 1.00% to 57,549, Nifty Smallcap 100 climbed 1.61% to 16,831 and Nifty Microcap 250 jumped 2.02% to 21,430 points — indicating smaller caps were participating in today’s recovery mood as well.

Sectoral Performance: Bank Nifty and Realty Outperform

Sectoral indices showed Nifty Realty to be the outperformer of the morning session, up 2.22% at 760 thanks to strong buying interest in Lodha which climbed 3.91% to ₹820, Godrej Properties adding 2.83% to ₹1,743, Brigade rising 3.17% to ₹723 and Prestige advancing 2.46% to ₹1,351. Nifty Media also performed strongly adding 2.21% at 1,368 on good buying interest in Network18 jumping 4.06% to ₹33, Hathway gaining 4.30% to ₹11, Sun TV rising 3.12% to ₹609 and Zee Entertainment climbing 3.08% to ₹81. Nifty IT was the biggest sectoral laggard falling 2.46% to 30,859 as TCS dropped 2.87% to ₹2,514, Infosys fell 3.10% to ₹1,290, Mphasis declined 3.42% to ₹2,303 and Coforge slid 2.52% to ₹1,233 — with the entire IT index basket opening under selling pressure. India VIX lost 5.43% at 19.32, marking its third straight day of declines.

Oil Prices Rise on Strait of Hormuz Concerns

International oil prices rose around 2% early Friday trade — with Brent crude trading around $96.92 a barrel while WTI crude futures are up around 3% at $97.39 a barrel — after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said shipping has stopped through the Strait of Hormuz following what it claimed was an Israeli violation of its ceasefire in Lebanon. US President Donald Trump also threatened Iran on Friday to stop charging tolls for tankers passing through the strategic Strait of Hormuz — sending oil prices modestly higher even as they continue to recover from this week’s sharp sell-off.

Previous Session

Indian markets ended on a weak note Thursday, with investors reacting sharply to fresh US-Iranian tensions as Sensex dropped 931 points or 1.20% to 76,631 and Nifty 50 fell 222 points or 0.93% to 23,775 — with the developments come just days before the scheduled US-Iran talks in Islamabad next Saturday coming.

Sources 

• https://www.bseindia.com/
• https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/top-gainers-losers
• https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/live-market-indices
• https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/live-equity-market?symbol=NIFTY%20IT
• https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/live-equity-market?symbol=NIFTY%20REALTY
• https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/live-equity-market?symbol=NIFTY%20MEDIA
• https://www.reuters.com/markets/stocks/americas/
• https://www.reuters.com/markets/stocks/asia-pacific/