RIL, banks drive Sensex 300 points higher, Nifty above 22,250; Infy in focus

As many as 19 companies, including , , and ICICI Securities, would be on investors' radar today as they are expected to announce their March quarter results.

From the Sensex stocks, , , Reliance Industries, , and M&M were the top gainers, while , , , , and opened with losses.

In terms of sectors, Nifty Oil & Gas surged by 2%, followed by Nifty PSU Bank, which rose by 1.4%. Additionally, Nifty Auto, Financial Services, FMCG, Metal, and Realty sectors also experienced significant gains.

Indian markets were closed on Wednesday for a local holiday. The benchmark Nifty 50 and S&P BSE Sensex have lost about 2.7% each in the last three sessions.

Meanwhile, tensions in the Middle East remained high after Israel threatened retaliation against Iran for its weekend missile attack.

Among individual stocks, ICICI Lombard General Insurance rose 4% after the company reported a 19% rise in fourth-quarter profit, helped by an increase in premiums at its motor and health insurance units.

Angel One shares rallied 9% after the brokerage firm posted a 27% rise in March quarter profit, aided by a jump in trading activity.

Experts Take
"The Iran-Israel tension in West Asia continues to weigh on stock markets globally. Until this uncertainty is out of the way, markets are unlikely to take a strong directional up move," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

"Since the US 10-year bond yield is hovering around 4.57%, more FII selling is likely, putting pressure on large-caps. This will provide opportunities to investors to slowly accumulate high quality largecaps where the margin of safety is high," Vijayakumar said.

Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, said, "Nifty can find support at 22,100 followed by 22,050 and 22,000. On the higher side, 22,200 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 22,250 and 22,300."

Global Markets
Wall Street equities closed lower overnight after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell declined to provide guidance on the timing and extent of expected interest rates, dimming hopes of early rate cuts in 2024.

However, Asian markets opened marginally higher. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4% but regional moves were uneven, with gains in South Korea and Australia but falls elsewhere.

FII/DII Tracker
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 4,468.09 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased Rs 2,040.38 crore worth of stocks on April 16, provisional data from the NSE showed.

Domestic institutional investors have been net buyers for six sessions in a row.

Crude Oil
Oil prices rose in early trade on Thursday, slightly paring the previous session's losses after the United States said it would reinstate oil sanctions Venezuela, while the European Union talked of fresh curbs on Iran.

Brent futures were up 30 cents, or 0.34%, at $87.59 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures traded 22 cents higher at $82.91 a barrel at 9:40 am IST. The two benchmarks slid 3% in the previous session on demand worries.

Currency Watch
The Indian rupee rose 12 paise to 83.49 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, declined 0.09% to 105.85 level.

(With inputs from agencies)
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)