The Indian equity benchmarks opened higher on Tuesday as indicated by the SGX index. The Sensex surged as much as 303 points, and Nifty 50 index zoomed above its important psychological level of 17,500.
At 9:22 am, BSE Sensex was trading 266 points or 0.45 per cent higher at 59,512, whereas Nifty 50 index advanced 79 points or 0.45 per cent at 17,744. While the Nifty Midcap 50 index advanced 0.34 per cent at 8,677, the Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading 0.63 per cent higher at 31,702. All sectoral indices were trading in green, with auto, metal and oil and gas, and media stocks trading between 0.50 per cent to 0.70 per cent.
On Monday, the OPEC+ countries decided to slash oil production by 100,000 barrels per day in October leading to a sharp plunge in European stocks, with Euro falling 99 cents for the first time in 20 years. The Asian markets were trading on a mixed note on Monday, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan trading 0.11 per cent higher. While Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.10 per cent lower, South Korea’s KOSPI slumped 0.16 per cent. China’s Shanghai index advanced marginally at 0.36 per cent, whereas Shenzhen Component was trading 0.29 per cent lower. Singapore’s Hang Seng index slumped 0.38 per cent.
The US markets remain closed on Monday, on account of Labor Day. However, on Friday, the US markets closed lower, thus marking the third losing week in a week amidst the anticipation of an aggressive rate hike by the US Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 declined 133 points or 3.3 per cent, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 94.96 points or 3 per cent. While the Nasdaq slipped 510.85 points or 4.2 per cent, the Russell 2000 was down 90.08 points or 4.7 per cent. Russian energy giant Gazprom said it wouldn’t reopen a natural gas pipeline to Germany for now thus indicating trouble for Europe, which is already grappling with higher energy prices.
Back home, Power Grid, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Titan, Reliance Industries, HDFC Twins, Hindustan Unilever Limited, and Bajaj Finance were amongst the top gainers, whereas Kotak Bank, Nestle India, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Dr Reddy, Sun Pharma, TCS, and HCL Tech were amongst the top losers.
