Financials, IT stocks Sensex up 250 points, Nifty above 23,750

Defying losses in Asian markets, benchmark Indian equity indices opened higher on Thursday, led by gains in financials, auto and IT stocks ahead of the quarterly earnings season that starts next week.

The BSE Sensex rose 265.85 points, or 0.34%, to 78,773.26, while the Nifty50 gained 75.65 points, or 0.32%, to 23,818.55 by 9:40 am.

Among Sensex stocks, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Zomato, M&M and Tata Motors opened higher, while Bharti Airtel, Adai Ports, NTPC and HDFC Bank opened lower.

Meanwhile, the Nifty Auto Index rose 0.3% in early trade on the back of Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra’s monthly sales figures.

Shares of Tata Motors also rose 2% after the company reported a 1% year-on-year growth in its December 2024 sales figures at 76,138 units in the year-ago period compared to 76,599 units.

Among individual stocks, shares of CSB Bank rose 6.5% following its Q3 FY25 financial update, which showed strong growth. Total deposits as of December 31, 2024 grew by 22.17% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs. 33,406 crore as against Rs. 27,345 crores.

South Indian Bank also rose 2.3% in early trade as the lender reported an 11.94% jump in its gross advances for the quarter ended December 31, 2024 from Rs. 77,686 crore against Rs. 86,965 crores.

See the experts

“Leading indicators available so far do not indicate a pick-up in economic growth. GST collections for December fell by 2.97% MoM indicating a continuation of the slowdown. Hence, Q3 corporate earnings are unlikely to register a rebound. This means that investors have The focus will have to be on sectors like IT, pharma and to some extent financials that will face the downturn,” Dr. V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

“FIIs are likely to continue their selling strategy as the dollar remains strong and US bond yields are attractive enough for FIIs to ignore emerging markets in the near term,” Vijayakumar added.

Global markets

Asian stocks started the year on a sour note on Thursday as they struggled for traction after jitters near 2024, when the US dollar charged higher and investor sentiment remained cautious ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, which fell 1.2% in December, though forecast a more than 7% gain for 2024.

The index was last down 0.5% in the early Asian session on Thursday, with volume thinned by a trading holiday in Japan.

FII/DII Tracker

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) on January 1 invested Rs. 1,782.7 crore worth of equity sold, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) on the same day sold Rs. 1,690 crore equity was purchased.

Crude oil

Oil prices rose on Thursday, the first day of 2025 trading, as investors returning from vacation cautiously eyed demand for the fuel following a recovery in China’s economy and President Xi Jinping’s promise to boost growth.

Brent crude futures rose 46 cents, or 0.6%, to $75.10 a barrel by 0128 GMT, after settling at 65 cents in the last trading day on Tuesday. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 49 cents, or 0.7%, at $721. A barrel after closing 73 cents higher in the previous session.

More to come…