Stock Market: Sensex Rises 150 Points, Nifty Hovers Near 16,000; IT Stocks Lead

Stock update: Bharti Airtel, SBI, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd, L&T, Kotak Bank, HUL, Infosys, and Tech M led gains on the BSE

The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices rose up to 0.5 per cent higher.

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Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Friday opened with nominal gains, tracking mixed global cues amid falling commodity prices.

At 10.15 am, the BSE Sensex was trading at 53,566, up 150 points, while the broader Nifty was at 15,986, up 47 points.

On the 30-share BSE platform, Bharti Airtel, SBI, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd, L&T, Kotak Bank, HUL, Infosys, and Tech M led gains. Britannia, Apollo Hospital, Tata Consumer were the additional winners on Nifty. 

On the flipside, Wipro, Tata Steel, HCL Tech, Axis Bank, JSW Steel, ONGC, and Hindalco were the top losers on the BSE.

The broader markets also opened in green. The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices rose up to 0.5 per cent higher.

On NSE, all the 15 sector gauges were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty IT and Nifty FMCG were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.65 per cent and 1.03 per cent, respectively.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,557 shares were advancing, while 656 were declining on the BSE.

In the previous trading on Thursday, Sensex had slipped 98 points (0.18 per cent) to close at 53,416, while Nifty had moved 28 points (0.18 per cent) lower to settle at 15,939.

In Asian markets, stocks were trading on a mixed note amid uncertainty around how aggressive the central banks would be in raising interest rates to tame inflation. Overnight, Wall Street indexes declined on fears of a sharp economic downturn.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 7 paise to 79.92 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday as a firm trend in domestic equities and fresh foreign fund inflows strengthened investor sentiment.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened up at 79.95 against the American dollar, then gained further strength to trade at 79.92 in early deals, registering a gain of 7 paise over the last close.

In the previous session, the rupee had closed at an all-time low of 79.99 against the greenback.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 1.19 per cent to $100.28 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers in the capital market on Thursday, as they bought shares worth Rs 309 crore, as per exchange data.