Indian benchmark indices have opened higher today. Yesterday, the indices had closed lower by the steepest decline in the last four sessions. In the opening session today, the Nifty50 index crossed the 23,200-mark. At the same time, the Sensex crossed the 75,000-mark by rising by over 700 points. At 9:16 AM today, the Nifty50 index rose by 227 points or 0.99% to 23,229.15. Meanwhile, the Sensex rose by 738 points or 0.99% to 74,945.45.

Hope returns amid easing oil prices

Yesterday's decline was due to the tensions rising in West Asia. However, the situation is now calming down. Israel's Prime Minister has said that the country would not carry out any attacks on Iran's oil and gas infrastructure. Therefore, the price of oil is decreasing. Brent oil crossed $118 yesterday. However, today it is trading at $106.

According to a report by Times of India, VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, “Market has been oscillating between some hope and fear during the last four days. The gains that Nifty accumulated in the previous three days have been completely wiped out with the 775-point loss yesterday. This oscillation between hope and fear is likely to continue in the near-term.”

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Sectoral movements in focus

Financials and automobile stocks, which were impacted the most on Thursday, are expected to witness some respite. The weakness in banking stocks, partly due to the HDFC issue, can be termed as a temporary phenomenon rather than a fundamental issue.

Global cues mixed but supportive

Asian markets opened on a positive note today, following a late rally in US markets and lower oil prices. US markets closed lower on Thursday as major stocks such as Micron Technology and Tesla lost ground due to high oil prices, which impacted investor sentiment. A rise in oil prices prompted concerns of inflation and delayed rate cuts.

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Gold prices were up today but continued to decline for the third consecutive week, impacted by a stronger US dollar and the Fed’s tough stand on monetary policy.

Foreign portfolio investors continued to remain net sellers, selling stocks amounting to Rs 7,558 crore on Thursday. Domestic institutional investors also provided some support by buying stocks worth Rs 3,864 crore.

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