Indian stock markets open higher, all major indices in green, Nifty around 24,700

MUMBAI: The Indian stock indices opened higher on Thursday despite mixed global cues. Market experts believe that investors are buoyed by the hopes of developments in the India-US trade deal and a rate cut by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

At the opening of the trading session today, the Sensex was up 26.22 points or 0.03 per cent, at 81,024.47, and the Nifty 50 at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was up 8.65 points or 0.04 cent, at 24,628.85. The stocks of Dr Reddy’s Labs, Eternal, Shriram Finance, Power Grid Corp, and Cipla were among the major gainers on the Nifty, while Tata Consumer, Nestle, Titan Company, Axis Bank, and SBI Life Insurance were losers.

At the opening, all the sectoral indices are trading in the green at the NSE. On BSE, the Midcap index was up 0.3 per cent and the smallcap index was up 0.6 per cent. “Indian markets are also sideways, with the RBI MPC meet outcome on Friday being watched closely. The consensus expectation is for a 25 bps rate cut by an accommodative stance positioned RBI”, said Ajay Bagga, banking and market expert.

On the investment front, good news for the financial markets is that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have turned net sellers in Indian stock markets for the second straight month in May. FPIs had fuelled the latest bull run in the stock market after a sharp slump.

May global foreign portfolio investment (FPI) flow numbers are showing India as a top inflow destination. May inflows were led by Taiwan (USD 7.5 bn inflows), India (USDMumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 5 (ANI): 2.3 bn inflows ) and Brazil (USD 2 bn inflows) out of a total EM ex-China inflow of USD 13.3 bn in May.

“Looking at YTD FPI flows, India has seen outflows of $9.9 bn out of a total $40 bn outflow YTD from all EM ex China. The May inflows, along with the 9% fall in the US dollar index YTD, are raising hopes for a gradual revival in FPI flows to the EMs. India, which made up around a quarter of inflows YTD, should benefit from the FPI flow turnaround”, Bagga added.

Observing the market moves, Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research, Axis Securities, added, “The Nifty ended higher yesterday and the India vix fell nearly 5%, which bulls would have liked to see. 24462 remains intact and that’s keeping optimism alive. Should this level break, the market will most likely drop to key support at -23800. Short-term resistance sits between 24760 and 24882. Globally, stock bulls have tailwinds.”

Going ahead, investors now await further updates on India-US trade deal negotiations and the RBI monetary policy outcome on Friday. Indian stock markets outperformed global markets over the past few weeks, as volatility continued to reign in global markets over possible forthcoming US reciprocal tariffs. A comfortable inflation number in India also somewhat supported the domestic equity indices. (ANI)