Share market today: The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Thursday which opened higher pared some of their early gains. At 10 am, the BSE Sensex was up 113 points to 81,018. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was trading at 24,805, up 35 points.
Stock update
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, Infosys, ICICI Bank, SBI emerged early gainers. On the down side, PowerGrid, NTPC, Tata Motors, M&M, Adani Ports, TCS were among the losers.
Stock in focus
Zomato stocks is expected to rise as the food delivery platform acquire payments firm Paytm's entertainment ticketing business for Rs 2,048 crore. As part of the deal, 280 employees from Paytm will move to Zomato. Zomato shares are trading at Rs 260.00, up 0.02 per cent on the BSE.
Sectoral update
Sectorwise, auto, power, and realty are in the red, while other indices are trading higher.
In the previous session on Wednesday, the BSE Sensex gained 102 points to 80,905, while the NSE Nifty50 advanced 71 points to 24,770.
"The most likely scenario now is a Fed turning dovish and starting the rate cut cycle with a 25 bp rate cut in September indicating further cuts to follow. This can keep the markets stable since the room for uncertainty is coming down," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.
Global update
In Asian markets, Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading in the green territory, while Shanghai and Seoul were quoting lower on Thursday. US markets closed on a higher note on Wednesday.
Overnight, the US market ended higher following the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting held on July 30 and 31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.14 per cent to close at 40,890.49, the S&P 500 gained 0.42 per cent to 5,620.85, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.57 per cent to reach 17,918.99.
Asian stocks also edged up ahead of pivotal announcements from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan, which are expected to provide direction for global interest rates. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2 per cent, with markets in Japan, Australia, and South Korea seeing gains, following the advance in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 on signals of potential Fed rate cuts.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.03 per cent to $76.03 a barrel.
Rupee trades in narrow range
Rupee traded in a narrow range in morning trade on Thursday, as the support from positive domestic equities was negated by relentless dollar demand from importers.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.93 and fell to 83.95, registering a loss of 5 paise from its previous close. On Wednesday, the Indian rupee fell 13 paise to 83.90 against the US dollar.