Opening Bell: Nifty above 17,400, Sensex gains over 300 points; metal, PSU Bank, consumer durables stocks shine

The Indian market opened positive in line with the trends on SGX Nifty, which was trading higher by nearly 80 points around 9 am, on Wednesday. Benchmarks gained in the opening trade despite rising oil prices as metal, PSU Bank drove the rally in the opening trade.  

Oil prices turned higher on Wednesday, erasing losses from the previous session, after industry data showed U.S. crude stocks fell last week, underlining how tight global supplies are amid the hit to Russian output from economic sanctions on Moscow, said Reuters.  

Brent crude futures climbed $1.06, or 0.9%, to $116.54 a barrel at 0213 GMT, after falling 14 cents in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 87 cents, or 0.8%, to $110.14 a barrel, after losing 36 cents on Tuesday 

See Zee Business Live TV Streaming Below:

Meanwhile, the broader Nifty50 started above 17,400 and the Sensex added nearly 200 points in the opening trade. The two indices opened at 17,405.05 and 58,198.64 respectively as benchmarks soon advanced further.  

PSU Bank, Consumer durables and metal stocks were top gainers as all sectoral indices turned green in the early trade. Nifty midcap and small cap indices too traded higher by more than 0.50%, while 12-share Nifty Bank added more than 300 points to trade above 36,600.  

In the pre-open, the Sensex gained more than 200 points as 26 shares advanced and 4 declined on the 30-share index.   

There are two significant trends in the market now, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.  "One, 17000 Nifty has now become a strong technical support for the market. The sharp bounce from the 17000 levels yesterday indicates that this is a strong support level now. Two, there is heavy delivery based buying in high quality stocks like TCS, Infosys, ITC and select financials. This indicates the return of risk-on in the market," he said. 

However, there are major global concerns too that might impact equity markets. The US 10-year yield is now at 2.42 %, said the expert.  

"There is a concern that rising bond yields and a hawkish Fed might push the US economy into recession. There is logic in the argument that markets have not discounted the negative impact of the war, rising inflation and hawkish central banks. But bull markets are known to climb many walls of worries," added V K Vijayakumar 

"On the technical front 17,200 and 17500 are immediate support and resistance in Nifty 50. For Bank Nifty 36000 and 37,000 are immediate support and resistance respectively," Mohit Nigam, Head - PMS, Hem Securities for Wednesday March 23.  

Nigam said that Asian markets are trading on a positive note as investors are looking out for oil prices and continue to assess the outlook for U.S. Federal Reserve monetary policy. 

Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday after it looked unlikely that European Union nations would agree to join the United States in a Russian oil embargo in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine, he added 

Earlier, the Asian indices started on a high note on Wednesday as Japanese Nikkei 225 was up over 650 points, Hang Seng index at the Hong Kong exchange gained over 350 points and Chinese Shanghai Composite was up 12 points in the morning trade around 8 am.  

Earlier, treasury yields marched higher on Tuesday, bringing U.S. stocks with them, as investors digested the increased likelihood of swift interest rate hikes following hawkish comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve, said Reuters 

The Nasdaq led Wall Street`s main indexes higher, rising nearly 2%, as investors bought the dip in technology stocks, including Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Alphabet Inc. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 254.87 points, or 0.74%, to 34,807.86 and the S&P 500 gained 50.63 points, or 1.13%, to 4,511.81. 

(Disclaimer: The views/suggestions/advice expressed here in this article are solely by investment experts. Zee Business suggests its readers to consult with their investment advisers before making any financial decision.)