Sensex opens slightly higher, Nifty flat; ICICI Bank, ONGC top gainers

Indian benchmark indices opened higher on Wednesday, after yesterday's fall. The benchmark BSE Sensex jumped over 150 points in early trade while NSE's Nifty50 rose by 30.90 points. In the Nifty50 basket, 32 stocks advanced, while 18 declined. Infratel, ICICI Bank, BPCL, Adani Ports, and Sun Pharma are the Nifty gainers. Tech Mahindra, Indiabulls Housing, YES Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Hindustan Unilever were the Nifty losers. ONGC and HCL Tech were the Sensex top gainers. 

BSE Sensex today opened at 39,086.21 points, over the previous day's close of 38,969.80 points.

Most of the Nifty sectoral indices were in the negative zone. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and HDFC Bank helped Bank Nifty to stay in the positive territory.

Some of the stocks like SBI, IndusInd Bank, Indiabulls Housing and YES Bank were trading in the negative zone. These stocks rose substantially on May 20 after the Lok Sabha exit poll predicted that the BJP-led NDA is going to form government at the Centre with absolute majority. Sensex on May 20 rose over 1,400 points or close to 4 percent, which was multiple-year high.

However, the benchmark indices fell over 1 per cent on Tuesday. The S&P BSE Sensex lost 383 points to settle at 38,970, while Nifty50 slipped 119 points to close at 11,709.

The Indian rupee opened higher at 69.67, against Tuesday's close of 69.71 against the US dollar. On Saudi Arabia’s assurance that it would keep the supply balanced oil prices eased, Reuters reported. Brent crude futures fell 0.5 percent at $71.81 a barrel at 6 am. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside lost about 0.15 percent. Asian stocks were weak. Japan’s Nikkei edged up 0.05 percent, while South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.45 percent.
 
S&P500 inched up 24 points to end at 2,864 levels, while Dow Jones rose 197 points and closed at 25,877. The Nasdaq rose about 83 points to end at 7,786.