FIRST TRADE: Sensex rises over 300 pts; Nifty near 22,300 led by IT stocks amid strong global cues; Coal India up over 4%, Bharti Airtel up over 2%

Stock market today: The Indian share market on Thursday (May 16) edged higher led by information technology (IT) stocks and tracking a rally in other Asian equities after softer-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation raised expectations of at least two interest rate cuts in 2024.

At around 9:15 a.m., Sensex was up 306.24 points or 0.42 per cent at 73,293.27 and NSE Nifty rose 91.3 points or 0.41 per cent at 22,291.85. 

"The underperformance of the Indian market during the last month is striking. It is this outperformance of China that is causing the sustained selling by FIIs in India," said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar added India’s underperformance is likely to change soon with clarity on election results. DIIs, HNIs, and retail can turn aggressive buyers lifting the market sharply. FIIs can’t afford to miss this potential rally. The only risk is political instability after elections which appears a very low probability event now.

Meanwhile, he said, the global market construct continues to be supportive with the US indices setting new records. The decline in US CPI inflation in April to 3.4 per cent sets the stage for a rate cut by the Fed. 

In the broader market, Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 traded half a per cent higher. High-beta Nifty Bank was up 0.23 per cent at 47,795.5.

BUZZING STOCKS

IEX shares were up over 2 per cent after the company's posted its Q4 results.

Titagarh Rail shares were up over 6 per cent after the company reported good Q4 results.

TBO Tek shares were up over 2 per cent after Goldman Sachs bought 6.53 lakh or 0.60 per cent equity at Rs 1411.35 per share and Nomura Funds bought 6 lakh or 0.55 per cent equity at Rs 1391.06 in the company.

Aadhar Housing Finance shares were up over 4 per cent after Akash Bhansali bought 22 lakh shares at Rs 319.06 per share.

Conversely, Thomas Cook shares were down over 1 per cent after the company posted its Q4 results. 

GLOBAL MARKETS 

Asian stock markets rallied on Thursday, buoyed by Wall Street's surge to all-time peaks overnight after a milder U.S. inflation report raised expectations the Federal Reserve will deliver at least two rate cuts this year.

The dollar remained on a downtrend, sagging to fresh multi-week lows against peers including the euro and sterling.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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