Opening bell: Markets open higher lifted by realty stocks

Sensex regains 54,000 level, whereas Nifty crosses 16,100 mark 

On Tuesday, the equity benchmark indices settled lower dragged by selling across sectors. The Sensex ended nearly 1% lower at 53,887 level while Nifty50 slipped with a similar sentiment but managed to hold the 16,000 level. On the global front, Wall Street indices ended on a negative note on Tuesday as indications of recession reduced the buyer's interest in the equities market ahead of inflation data.  

On the domestic front, at the open, the Sensex was up 219.76 points or 0.41% at 54,106.37, and the Nifty was up 61.10 points or 0.38% at 16,119.40. About 1241 shares have advanced, 329 shares declined, and 92 shares are unchanged. Asian Paints, HUL, L&T, SBI and Power Grid Corporation of India were the top Sensex gainers whereas the only losers comprised HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Tech Mahindra and Titan Company. 

Some of the stocks which are likely to be in action today are Mindtree and Tata Metaliks, as the companies will report their Q1FY23 results. The shares of Anand Rathi Wealth opened more than 1% higher. The company reported a 33.6% increase in PAT at Rs for Q1FY23 while total revenue rose by 35.7% for the same quarter. Vodafone Idea has introduced course materials or Agniveer exams, to be conducted by Indian defence forces this year. The company has partnered with edtech firm Pariksha to launch the course on its app. State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank have pushed up the interest rates on foreign currency non-resident (FCNR) bank deposits. These stocks are also likely to be on investors’ radar in Wednesday’s trading session. 

The broader markets were seen trading flat with BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices gaining 0.66% and 0.60%, respectively. The top three midcap stocks within the index were Gujarat Gas, Macrotech Developers and Sriram Transport Finance while the top three smallcap stocks were Xchanging Solutions, Vakrangee and Care Ratings. On the sectoral front, most of the indices traded flat apart from the BSE Realty sector which zoomed beyond 1%. Macrotech Developers, Sobha and DLF were the realty stocks lifting the index up gaining up to 2.8%.