Opening Bell: Nifty above 17,400, Sensex up 300 points; auto, metal, IT shine

Domestic equity markets on Thursday opened on a high note tracking global cues, including Russi-Ukraine tension. Benchmarks opened higher by nearly 0.50%. The broader Nifty50 started at 17,396.55, while the Sensex gained over 200 points to 58,219.33. Nifty50 went on to breach 17, 400, while the Sensex retained 58,300 too minutes into trading. All broader market and sectoral indices were sitting in the green in early trade.  

SGX Nifty on the Singaporean Exchange hinted at a positive opening for the Indian stock market as the futures index was trading higher by 68 points or 0.39% to 17,385.50 around 9 am on Thursday.  

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Wipro, NTPC, Power Grid, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, Hindalco, IOC, HDFC Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra, L&T, Tata Steel, Titan and Asian Paints were among top gainers on Thursday. HDFC Life, Britannia, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech, Dr Reddy's and Sun Phrama declined the most in the opening trade.  

Following the cues from SGX Nifty, the Sensex started over 200 points or 0.38% higher to 58,217.69 in the pre-open as 24 shares advanced and 6 declined. 

Meanwhile, the Asian indices were trading mixed amid geo-political tension between Russia and Ukraine. Japanese Nikkei was trading 0.30% lower, Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchange was up 0.50% and Chinese Shanghai Composite was trading flat with positive bias in the early trade on Thursday.  

In the US market, indices closed mixed as Dow Jones ended 0.16%, Nasdaq declined 0.11%, S&P500 closed marginally 0.09% higher and Russell 2000 settled with 0.14% gains. 

"Market research suggests, trading above the support zone of 17200 is positive from a short-term perspective. If the market sustains above the support levels, we expect a recovery in the market till the level of 17800. Technical indicators suggests, a volatile movement in the market in the range of 17200-17800," Vijay Dhanotiya, Lead of Technical Research at CapitalVia Global Research Limited, had said after the markets witnessed quick sell off in the last hour of the closing on Wednesday.