Opening Bell: Nifty, Sensex gain nearly 1%; metal, oil & gas top gainers

Domestic equity markets opened on a positive note in line with its Asian peers amid improved global cues. As indicated by SGX Nifty, benchmarks started nearly 1% higher as Russia-Ukraine war entered 8th day on Thursday. SGX Nifty Futures was trading with gains of more than 250 points or nearly 1 per cent higher to 26,650 around 9 am on the Singaporean exchange on Thursday.  

Meanwhile, the broader Nifty50 opened above 16,700 and the Sensex added more than 450 points to its previous closing. 

The benchmarks started fresh session on 16,727.00 and 55,921.44 respectively as Fed hinted at minor rate hike.  

Metal, oil & gas, healthcare and consumer durables were top performing sectors as all Nifty sectoral indices turned green in the opening trade.  

Coal India, ONGC, Tata Steel, UPL, IOC, IndusInd Bank, Powergrid, NTPC, Titan and Bajaj Finance were among top gainers, while Hindustan Unilever, Nestle India, HDFC life, Ultra tech Cement, Maruti, Asian Paints and Nestle India declined the most on Thursday.  

In the pre-open, the Sensex gained nearly 450 points to trade above 55,900 as all 30 shares advanced on the index, while the Nifty too added more than 100 points as the index sat in the green.     

In related development, starting today, domestic investors can buy and sell US stocks on the NSE IFSC (NSE International Exchange), a wholly owned subsidiary of the NSE, platform. As many as 8 top US stocks, namely Google, Amazon, Tesla, Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix, Apple and Walmart will be available from today. Gradually, the platform will facilitate trading on 50 stocks in the future.  

Earlier, American market has ended in the green after Federal Reserve hinted at likely minor interest rate hike by 25bps in the upcoming FOMC meeting. Dow Jones closed 1.79% higher, Nasdaq Composite gained 1.62%, S&P 500 surged 1.86% and Russell 2000 settled with gain of 2.51% in Wednesday's closing.  

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday said rates would likely to be raised by only 25 basis points this month, and the war in Ukraine has made the outlook highly uncertain, as per a Reuters report.