Stock Market Today: Domestic equities opened decisively higher on August 26 as lower crude oil prices and a decline in bond yields improved investor sentiment. Gains on Wall Street and a positive trend in Asian markets supported Indian equities in early trade.
The broader market outperformed the benchmark indices in early trade. The Nifty Smallcap 100 rose nearly 0.50 per cent, while the Nifty Midcap 100 gained around 0.25-0.35 per cent.
Most sectoral indices traded in the green, except IT, consumer durables and auto. Nifty PSU Bank was the top sectoral gainer, rising nearly 2 per cent.
Nifty IT and Nifty Consumer Durables fell around 0.15 per cent each, while Nifty Auto remained largely unchanged.
Nifty Bank, which tracks 14 large and liquid banking stocks, gained nearly 0.8 per cent to trade above 57,950.
Among the Nifty 50 constituents, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, UltraTech Cement, Adani Enterprises, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC Life Insurance, State Bank of India and NTPC were the top gainers, rising between 1 per cent and 2 per cent.
On the other hand, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Bharat Electronics and Apollo Hospitals were among the laggards, each declining around 1 per cent.
Crude oil prices remained under pressure on August 26 as reports of a possible US-Iran ceasefire eased concerns over supply disruptions. Hopes that Iran and Oman could make progress on reopening the Strait of Hormuz added to the selling pressure in the oil market.
The decline came even as the US tightened economic sanctions on Iran earlier this week.
Brent crude futures fell over 2.5 per cent to $86.36 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 2.4 per cent to $80.38 a barrel.
US Treasury yields fell on August 26 as the continued decline in oil prices eased inflation concerns and strengthened expectations of lower borrowing costs. The 10-year US Treasury yield fell more than 6 basis points to 4.64 per cent, while the 30-year yield declined over 5 basis points to 5.18 per cent.
Yields also came under pressure as investors assessed the possibility of further action by the US Treasury to keep long-term borrowing costs in check. Last week, the Treasury doubled the size of its long-term debt buybacks after yields climbed to multi-year highs.
Wall Street closed higher overnight, with the Dow Jones gaining 0.30 per cent, the S&P 500 rising 0.32 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq advancing 0.66 per cent.
Asian markets extended the positive trend in early trade. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose over 0.50 per cent, South Korea’s Kospi gained more than 2 per cent, while China’s CSI 300 advanced over 1 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.68 per cent.
