Opening Bell: Nifty above 16,300, Sensex gains around 200 points; IT, Pharma stocks shine

Amid mixed cues from Asian markets, Indian market opened in the green as it extended gains for the third day on Wednesday.  

Benchmarks Nifty50 and Sensex started higher by nearly 0.4% as the former opened above 16,300 and the latter gained around 200 points 

The two indices opened at 16,318.15 and 54,554.89 respectively.  

In the broader market, Nifty midcap and small cap too rose nearly half per cent.  

Sector-wise, except metal, all Nifty indices sat in the green. Nifty Pharma and IT were top gainers among sectoral indices 

Stock market has an uncanny ability to surprise, and this was evident in the sharp 417 point pullback in Nifty on Tuesday, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. "Sharp relief rallies triggered by short covering happen even in bear markets. It remains to be seen whether the rally has enough steam to sustain, particularly when the latest WPI inflation print has come at a disturbing 15.08 %. RBI can be expected to turn more hawkish in the coming policy  meets," said Vijayakumar.

He said Fed chief Powel's recent  statement that "Fed will not hesitate to raise rates till inflation is tamed" indicates that, globally, economies and markets will have to gear for a higher interest rate regime going forward.

"Investors can give priority to segments which will not be impacted much by rising inflation and stocks of companies with pricing power to pass on increased costs to consumers. High quality IT and telecom stocks are better placed to weather the storm," the expert added.

In the pre-open, extending gains, S&P BSE Sensex rose by more than 200 points as 25 shares advanced and five declined on the 30-share index.  

Earlier, Asian markets were trading mixed on Wednesday. Japanese Nikkei 225 was trading higher by 87 points, Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchange dropped nearly 150 points, while Chinese Shanghai Composite declined marginally by 8 points in the early trade.  

Hints from SGX Nifty was also negative as the futures index on the Singaporean exchange was trading lower by 60 points around 8 am on Wednesday.  

On Friday, the US markets closed near their day's high. Dow Jones rose more than 400 points, Nasdaq gained over 300 points and S&P 500 surged by 81 points in the Friday's closing.