Sensex, Nifty trade with marginal gains in early session

PTI, Feb 21, 2024, 10:00 AM IST

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty eked out marginal gains in early trade on Wednesday amid Asian markets witnessing mixed trends and investors awaiting cues from the US Federal Reserve on interest rate trajectory.

The 30-share Sensex rose 60.05 points or 0.08 per cent to 73,117.45 points while the broader Nifty inched up 21.65 points or 0.1 per cent to 22,218.60 points. In the Sensex pack, 17 stocks were in the green, and among the Nifty constituents, 29 were trading with gains. While JSW Steel climbed more than 2 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, and Bharti Airtel rose over 1 per cent in early deals.

Asian markets witnessed mixed trends, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s SSE Composite Index recording gains while Japan’s Nikkei 225 was trading almost flat. Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said US stocks ended lower on Tuesday as investors await earnings results from AI darling Nvidia on Wednesday as well as new clues from the Federal Reserve officials on interest rates after last week’s inflation data. ”US Fed officials will be speaking publicly, coupled with Wednesday afternoon’s release of minutes from the central bank’s January 30-31 meeting,” he said in a pre-market open note.

On Tuesday, European markets closed on a mixed note. Remaining in the positive territory for the sixth straight session on Tuesday, Sensex jumped 349.24 points to close at 73,057.40 points while Nifty went up 74.70 points to end the day at 22,196.95 points.

”The big emerging market worry of rising bond yields in the US is not impacting India since FIIs have been forced to reduce their selling since they are being completely neutralised by sustained DII (Domestic Institutional Investor) buying assisted by retail exuberance. This resilient domestic buying is providing the main support to the ongoing rally in the market,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers on Tuesday as they offloaded securities worth Rs 1,335.51 crore, according to exchange data.