Sensex Starts 270 Points Higher, Nifty Above 24800, IT Emerges Top Sectoral Gainer

The domestic stock market opened higher on Monday, June 16, as headline indices looked to rebound from Friday’s losses triggered by the Israel-Iran conflict. At 9:20 AM, the Sensex was up by 274.22 points, 0.34 per cent, at 81,392.82. Likewise, the Nifty 50 index was trading higher by 91.20 points, or 0.37 per cent at 24,808.80.

The broader market also largely traded in the green as the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 were up between 0.1 per cent to 0.3 per cent. The Nifty 500, which represents about 92.3 per cent of the free float market capitalization of the stocks listed on NSE, was also trading higher by around 0.2 per cent. However, the Nifty Microcap 250, which includes the top 250 companies beyond the Nifty 500 index constituents, was down by about 0.5 per cent.

On the sectoral front, Nifty IT led the gains, rising over 0.6 per cent. Nifty Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, Healthcare, FMCG, and Financial Services indices also traded in the green. In contrast, Nifty PSU Bank, Auto, Metal, Private Bank, and Realty indices were under pressure.

Nifty Bank, which tracks the top 12 public and private sector lenders, was also in the red, slipping 0.1 per cent to trade below the 55,500 mark.

Israel had carried out strikes on Iran’s nuclear and missile sites in early hours on June 13. In retaliation, Iran launched a barage of missiles on Israel. The exchange of missiles and military violence is still ongoing. The rising tensions sparked fears of a wider regional conflict, which had triggered a broad selloff in domestic market as well as global market.

Earlier on Friday, June 13, the Sensex closed 573.38 points lower at 81,118.60, down 0.70 per cent, while the Nifty50 declined 0.68 per cent, or 169.60 points, to finish the session at 24,718.60.

Sensex, Nifty 50: Top Gainers And Losers

From the Sensex index, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, and Hindustan Unilever were the top gainers in early trade, while Tata Motors, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, and Adani Ports were the top drags.

Among the Nifty 50 stocks, Cipla, ONGC, UltraTech Cement, Power Grid, Bharti airtel, and SBI Life Insurance advanced the most, while Tata Motors, Jio Finance, Dr Reddy's Lab, Coal India, Adani Enterprises, Tata Steel, Hindalco, and Wipro were the biggest losers.

Global Markets

The sharp escalation in Israel-Iran conflict dragged US markets lower on Friday, June 13. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.79 per cent to 42,197.79, the S&P 500 slipped 1.13 per cent to 5,976.97, and the Nasdaq lost 1.30 per cent to close at 19,406.83.

Asian markets were largely trading higher in early trade on Monday, June 16. Japan's Nikkei 225 index was trading higher by 0.95 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI was up by 0.8 per cent, and China's SSE Composite was trading flat-to-positive. The Hong Kong-based Hang Seng, however, was trading slightly in the red, lower by 0.11 per cent.