 "Sensex rises 215 pts to 82,490; Nifty tops 25,538 as IT heavyweights power early gains. Source: Reuters.")
Indian equities opened on a firm note on Thursday, with benchmark indices extending early gains led by information technology heavyweights, even as select financial and FMCG counters capped the upside.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading at 82,490.75 at 9:17 am, up 214.68 points or 0.26 per cent from its previous close of 82,276.07. The index opened at 82,418.78 and touched an intraday high of 82,579.16 and a low of 82,404.65 in early trade.
The broader Nifty 50 advanced 55.75 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 25,538.25. The index opened at 25,556.30 and oscillated between 25,524.25 and 25,567.60 in the first 20 minutes of trading.
IT stocks lead the charge
Gains were primarily driven by frontline IT counters, which saw renewed buying interest. Tech Mahindra rose 1.48 per cent, Tata Consultancy Services gained 1.08 per cent, Infosys advanced 1.07 per cent and HCL Technologies climbed 0.96 per cent on the Sensex.
On the Nifty 50 leaderboard, Tech Mahindra surged nearly 2 per cent, while Infosys, TCS and HCL Technologies gained between 1 and 1.5 per cent, indicating broad-based strength across large-cap IT names.
Select heavyweights support
Among other index movers, Maruti Suzuki India rose 0.70 per cent, while Reliance Industries added 0.28 per cent. Infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro also edged higher in early trade.
Public sector lender State Bank of India and private banking major HDFC Bank traded marginally in the green, lending additional support to the indices.
Market breadth on the Nifty remained positive, with 34 stocks advancing, 14 declining and two remaining unchanged.
Financials, FMCG stocks weigh
However, gains were tempered by weakness in select financial and consumer stocks.
Bajaj Finance slipped 0.45 per cent, UltraTech Cement fell 0.16 per cent, Asian Paints declined 0.19 per cent and ICICI Bank was down 0.07 per cent. FMCG major Hindustan Unilever and jewellery-to-watchmaker Titan Company also slipped marginally.