Stock Market: Sensex Rises 100 Points, Nifty Trades Above 18,550 Amid Volatility. Realty, IT Lead

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, HUL, Asian Paints, TechM, TCS, Axis Bank, Wipro, HDFC, SBI emerged early winners

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday opened flat amid volatility. However, the two domestic indices slightly advanced into the green as positive strong Q4 GDP growth of 6.1 per cent helping the overall investor sentiment. India continues to maintain its streak of world-beating economic growth after GDP for the March quarter beat all expectations with a 6.1 per cent expansion that helped push the annual growth rate to 7.2 per cent.

At 9.50 am, the BSE Sensex rose 99 points to 62,721. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 edged 41 points up to 18,575.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, HUL, Asian Paints, TechM, TCS, Axis Bank, Wipro, HDFC, SBI emerged early winners. On the downside, Airtel, Kotak Bank, Maruti, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, PowerGrid, NTPC, ITC were the prime laggards. Among other stocks, 5 of the 10 Adani Group stocks marched higher led by Adani Transmission, which hit the 5 per cent upper circuit.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices rose up to 0.6 per cent.

Among sectors, realty and IT index rose 1 per cent.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE Sensex closed at 62,622, down 347 points, while the NSE Nifty50 was down 99 points to 18,534.

"A strong Q4 GDP data beating street expectations could bring in some cheers to investors and lift market sentiment," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

In Asian markets, Seoul quoted lower, while Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading in the green. The US markets ended lower on Wednesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 1.20 per cent to $72.66 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued to remain net buyers as they bought equities worth Rs 3,405.90 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee gained 39 paise to 82.36 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday as positive macroeconomic data strengthened investor sentiments. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 82.54 against the dollar and then rose to 82.36, registering a gain of 39 paise over its previous close.

On Wednesday, the rupee closed at 82.75 against the US currency. On the domestic macroeconomic front, the Centre's fiscal deficit narrowed to 6.4 per cent of the GDP in 2022-23 from 6.71 per cent in FY22.