Sensex opens 249 points up, Nifty above 10,500; Asian Paints, Berger Paints gain

Domestic equity market kicked off Wednesday’s session in the green following positive cues from the global market and sustained inflows by foreign institutional investors.

The BSE Sensex opened 249.31 points up at 35,679, while the NSE Nifty opened 58.25 points higher at 10529.

As many as 21 stocks in the Sensex pack were trading higher with Asian Paints gaining the most 2.92 per cent. It was followed by Mahindra & Mahindra (up 1.65 per cent), Bajaj Finance (up 1.55 per cent), NTPC (up 1.44 per cent) and ITC (1.61 per cent).

Ruchit Jain, Senior Analyst - Technical and Derivatives, Angel Broking said, The up move in index supported by broader market participation is certainly an encouraging sign and hence, we have been optimistic on the market and have been advising to use dips as buying opportunity.”

On the other hand, HCL Technologies and Power Grid were down over 0.50 per cent.

Among the sector indices on BSE, the Metal index was up 1 per cent in the early trade. Consumer Discretionary, Auto, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and IT were up between 0.45 per cent and 0.84 per cent. On the other hand, BSE Realty, Telecom and Healthcare were down over 0.15 per cent.

The US markets ended higher on Tuesday as White House trade adviser Peter Navarro clarified his remarks about the US-China trade deal. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Wednesday amid US assurances that the China trade deal was intact. Dow Jones Industrial Average index settled 0.50 per cent higher at 26,156.

In a scrip-specific development, shares of paint majors Asian Paints and Berger Paints gained up to 3 per cent post Q4 results.

Asian Paints on Tuesday post market hours reported a 1.18 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 480.25 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2020, impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown.

On the other hand, Berger Paints said its net profit fell by 6.51 per cent to Rs 103.18 crore during the quarter.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said, “The Indian indices traded positive, in sync with global indices, seemingly on the back of continued liquidity flows into the markets. Investors advised to remain cautious and keep booking profits.”