Sensex rises over 200 pts in early trade, Nifty tops 15,750

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Equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 200 points in early trade on Thursday, tracking gains in index majors Reliance Industries, Infosys and HCL Tech amid a largely positive trend in global markets. The 30-share BSE index was trading 224.95 points or 0.43 per cent higher at 52,668.66 in initial deals, while the broader NSE Nifty rose 62.05 points or 0.39 per cent to 15,771.45. HCL Tech was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 2 per cent, followed by Titan, Tech Mahindra, M&M, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries and IndusInd Bank.

On the other hand, Maruti, Bajaj Auto, HDFC and PowerGrid were among the laggards. In the previous session, Sensex ended 135.05 points or 0.26 per cent lower at 52,443.71, while Nifty slipped 37.05 points or 0.24 per cent to 15,709.40. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,274.77 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional exchange data.

According to V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, a major trend that has emerged post-Covid is the rise of the retail investor. Retail investors now account for 45 per cent of cash market transactions on Indian exchanges, a big jump from 33 per cent five years ago. "During this period the share of FIIs has fallen sharply - from 23 per cent to 11 per cent. This domination of retail over FIIs is the reason why markets are not correcting sharply even when FIIs sell continuously. FIIs have sold shares worth Rs 6,100 crore this week.

"But it is a fact that most retail investors are driven by sentiments and momentum, not fundamentals," he said. Meanwhile, in another boost to the bulls, the Fed has kept the rates unchanged and reiterated that it is "nowhere near considering a rate hike." Also, the bounce back in Hong Kong and Shanghai indices suggests that the Chinese tech sell-off is a temporary issue and unlikely to become a contagion impacting global markets, he added.

Also read: Sensex drops over 250 pts in early trade; Nifty slips below 15,700

In a statement issued after its latest policy meeting, the US Fed said it's keeping its benchmark short-term rate pegged at nearly zero, where it has remained since the pandemic tore through the economy in March 2020. Equities on Wall Street ended on a missed note in overnight sessions. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.30 per cent to USD 74.09 per barrel.

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