Sensex jumps 85 points, Nifty regains 17,000-mark; metal & auto stocks rally

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Domestic benchmark equity indices opened higher on Thursday following positive global cues, however, the upside could be capped due to the weekly expiry of F&O contracts. In opening trades, Sensex rose 85 points or 0.15% to 57,423 and the Nifty 50 index was quoting at 17,095 advancing 19 points or 0.11%.

“Both Wall Street and Dalal Street have been one-way streets for quite long now, with only minor dips. And, the exuberant retail investors have been buying on every dips. This ‘ buy on dips’ strategy has been rewarding retail investors and, therefore, they can be expected to continue with that strategy until there is a sharp correction and negative signals in the market. The scepticism of ‘smart money is evident in the ‘off and on’ response of FIIs who have again turned buyers for three days in a row after turning sellers on a sustained basis for many days. FIIs are just chasing momentum now and therefore no serious significance need to be given to their recent buys. But an important trend emerging in FPI inflows is their buying into debt: Rs 12144 cr in August. This is the first positive monthly figure in 2021 and is likely to continue. For FIIs risk-reward is in favour of debt at this stage of the market,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Gainers & losers

Sectoral strand

All sectoral indices on the NSE opened higher. Nifty Metal and Nifty Auto indices rose 0.39% each. Nifty Pharma, Nifty Realty, Nifty IT, Nifty FMCG, Nifty Bank indices were trading with gains.

Broader market

Broader markets outperformed benchmark indices. The BSE MidCap index opened at record highs of 24,180 advancing 108 points or 0.45%. The BSE SmallCap index regained 27,000-mark at 27,084 up by 104 points or 0.39%.

However, the market breadth was positive as 1,515 shares advanced compared to 599 declined and 82 remained unchanged.

Global markets

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading mixed on Thursday as Australia reported a higher-than-expected trade surplus in July. Australia recorded a trade surplus of 12.117 billion Australian dollars (about $8.93 billion) in July, according to data released Thursday by the country’s Bureau of Statistics.

The Nasdaq closed Wednesday at a record high, and the S&P 500 rose but just missed a fresh peak, as September kicked off with renewed buying of technology stocks.

US manufacturing activity unexpectedly picked up in August. The ISM said its index of national factory activity inched up to 59.9 last month from a reading of 59.5 in July.

US private employers hired far fewer workers than expected in August. Private payrolls increased by 374,000 jobs last month after rising 326,000 in July, the ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday.