Snapping two-day losses, Indian stock indices rise marginally

New Delhi: Erasing two-day of losses, Indian stock indices gained marginally in early trade on Wednesday. The latest softening of global crude oil prices and signs of inflation slowly receding are likely to have lent support to the equity markets. Global crude oil prices have fallen below the psychological level of $100 per barrel after […]

New Delhi: Erasing two-day of losses, Indian stock indices gained marginally in early trade on Wednesday. The latest softening of global crude oil prices and signs of inflation slowly receding are likely to have lent support to the equity markets. Global crude oil prices have fallen below the psychological level of $100 per barrel after several weeks.

At 9.37 a.m., Sensex was at 54,092.73 points, up 206.12 per cent or 0.38 per cent, whereas Nifty was at 16,115.55 points, up 57.25 points or 0.36 per cent.

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Among the Nifty 50 companies, 41 were in the green and while 8 declined in the morning session. Whereas, one Nifty stock was unchanged.

“The major positive development from India’s economic and market perspective is the crash in Brent crude to below $100 for the first time since March 22. The bulls are likely to latch on to this good news. But FIIs again turning sellers will be a dampener,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Market participants will also closely monitor the latest inflation data in the US to be released later today, Vijayakumar said.

“An important short-term trend playing out in the market is the weakness in IT and strength in banking. IT is weak on margin pressure in the industry and fears of a possible US recession fallout. Banking is strong due to the strong fundamentals of the banking segment and the impressive credit growth underway in the economy,” Vijayakumar added.

Besides, stocks in other Asian markets edged up on Wednesday in cautious trading, as US inflation may hit a fresh four-decade high, said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC securities.

On crude prices, brokerage firm Kotak Securities said crude oil came under severe selling pressure after failing to sustain above $105 per barrel level, and is now back close to $95.

“Crude oil has witnessed mixed trade in last few days as supply risks counter demand uncertainty and this trend may continue in the near term,” it said in a note.