Indian stock market opens higher, IT stocks shine

Mumbai, July 2 (IANS) The Indian benchmark indices opened higher on Wednesday amid positive global cues, as buying was seen in the IT and auto sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.23 am, Sensex was trading 225.5 points or 0.27 per cent up at 83,922.79 while the Nifty added 58.75 points or 0.23 per cent at 25,600.55.

According to analysts, after breaking the 24,500-25,000 range, Nifty has moved to the new range of 25,200-25,800.

Positive news about a possible trade deal between India and US can help break the upper limit of the range but it would be difficult to sustain the Nifty at higher levels for long, they added.

Nifty Bank was down 45.20 points or 0.08 per cent at 57,414.25 in early trade. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 59,809.25 after adding 59.20 points or 0.25 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 19,082.10 after climbing 26.40 points or 0.14 per cent.

"The charts of Bank Nifty indicate that it may get support at 57,300 followed by 57,000 and 56,800. If the index advances further, 57,650 would be the initial key resistance, followed by 57,800 and 58,000," said Hardik Matalia Derivative Analyst of Choice Broking.

Meanwhile, in the Sensex pack, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, TCS, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech and Adani Ports were the top gainers. Whereas, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, BEL and Eternal were the top losers.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling on July 1 as they sold equities worth Rs 1,970.14 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued their buying as they bought equities worth Rs 771.08 crore on the same day.

In the Asian markets, Bangkok, China, Japan, Seoul and Jakarta were trading in red, whereas only Hong Kong was trading in green.

In the last trading session, Dow Jones in the US closed at 44,494.94, up 400.17 points, or 0.91 per cent. The S&P 500 ended with a loss of 6.90 points, or 0.11 per cent at 6,198.05 and the Nasdaq closed at 20,202.89, down 166.85 points, or 0.82 per cent.

--IANS

skt/na