Stock Markets Live: Sensex, Nifty Decline; HAL Up 10% On Order Win

Indian equities have begun the weekly options expiry session on a subdued note, opening with a negative bias on the benchmark indices.

The S&P BSE Sensex opened 60 points lower at 49,432 while the NSE Nifty 50 index fell 15 points at the start of trade to 14,550.

Most sectoral indices too have opened flat, other than the Nifty I.T. index, which has declined 0.7% in the early minutes of trading. The Media index is up 0.5% while the Auto index has gained 0.3%.

Broader markets have opened with modest gains this morning. The Midcap index is up 0.2% while the Smallcap index has gained 0.4% at the start of trade.

Good Morning!

The Sensex remains 500 points shy of scaling 50,000 as Indian equities ended flat on Wednesday.

The Nifty Bank ended at a record high despite selling pressure in Reliance Industries Ltd., HDFC Ltd., and Bajaj Finance Ltd.

Futures are indicating a subdued start to the weekly options expiry session today. The Singapore-traded SGX Nifty, an early indicator of the Nifty 50 Index’s performance in India, rose 0.2% to 14,600 as of 7:40 a.m. on Thursday.

Stocks like Infosys, Wipro, 5Paisa Capital and GTPL Hathway may react to their quarterly results reported after market hours on Wednesday. Non-Nifty 50 firms like RIIL, Den Networks and Tata Steel Long Products will report their results today.

Japanese markets are outperforming this morning, while other equities across the Asia-Pacific are mixed. The treasury yields are showing signs of stabilising after the recent retreat.

Futures on the Dow Jones are currently trading with gains of 80 points. The index ended flat on Wednesday, while the Nasdaq outperformed, courtesy gains in IT stocks.

West Texas Intermediate crude was off the day's low, down 0.1% at $52.86 per barrel, while gold rose 0.3% to $1,849/Oz.

Short on time? Well, then listen to this podcast for a quick summary of All You Need To Know before the opening bell.