FIRST TRADE: Sensex up over 250 pts, Nifty above 19,450; Tata Steel up 1%

Stock market today: After falling for three straight sessions, the domestic equity market opened in the green on Friday (August 4) amid healthy buying across the sectors. At the time of writing this report, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading 281 points, or 0.43 per cent higher at 65,521.99 levels while the NSE's Nifty was trading at 19,481.25, down 99.6 points, or 0.51 per cent. 

"Benchmark indices are likely to open higher, but may turn wobbly thereafter amid weakness in several Asian gauges following a marginal fall in the overnight US markets. While India's strong economic growth story continues to attract global investors, the recent hiccup where the US was downgraded by Fitch, led to a sharp rise in US bond yields and the dollar index, triggering a global stock market rout. There could be some bouts of profit-taking in local shares, but India's consistent performance on several economic parameters should fuel recovery going ahead. Technically, Nifty may move up and down in a tight channel with the biggest hurdles at the 19,575 mark, while intraday support is seen at the 19300 mark," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

Among individual stocks, Zomato jumped over 11 per cent and hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 98.39 apiece on the BSE after the company reported a profit for the first time since listing for the quarter ended June 30, 2023. Eicher Motors was trading over a per cent higher at Rs 3,422.10 on the BSE after the Royal Enfield parent reported impressive numbers for the June 2023 quarter. Sun Pharma, on the other hand, was trading flat post-Q1 numbers.