Indian benchmark indices—the 30-stock Sensex and Nifty 50—opened slightly lower on Friday, as profit booking followed four consecutive days of gains. However, the dip was quickly bought into, pushing the indices back into positive territory. A similar pattern of volatility was observed on Wall Street overnight, which carried over into the mixed early trading across Asia-Pacific markets today.
Information technology stocks faced pressure after global IT giant Accenture issued weaker-than-expected revenue growth guidance for the second quarter, limiting gains for the broader Nifty 50 index.
At 10 am, the Sensex rose by 223.72 points, or 0.29 per cent, to reach 76,571.78, while the Nifty gained 67.35 points, or 0.29 per cent at 23,258.00. A total of 2,531 shares advanced, 615 shares declined, and 134 shares remained unchanged.
Broader Market
The broader markets saw strong buying from retail investors, pushing the Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 indices up by nearly 1 per cent each.
Sectorial Update
On the sectoral front, the Nifty IT index was the worst performer, dropping 0.8 per cent. Major players like HCLTech, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra ended a three-session winning streak following weaker-than-expected second-quarter revenue guidance from global IT giant Accenture.
“The rally in the market this week which saw the Nifty rise by 3.5 percent has come at a time when trade tensions are escalating and more is expected when the reciprocal tariffs kick in on April 2. The main driver of the rally is the buying by FIIs in the cash market in two days and perhaps, more importantly, sharp decline in their short positions and increase in long positions in the futures market,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said.
Foreign Institutional Investors
On March 18, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) became net buyers of Indian equities for the first time in a month. However, they resumed selling in the following session but ended up turning net buyers again in the last session. “It appears that this has given confidence to retail investors who have resumed buying in the broader market,” Vijayakumar said.
