Lagatar24 Desk
Mymbai, Feb 17: In the opening trades on Thursday, the Indian equity indices rose, led by advances in automobile stocks. The benchmark BSE Sensex was up 320 points, or 0.55 percent, at 58,317 at 9:23 a.m., while the broader NSE Nifty was up 97 points, or 0.56 percent, at 17,420.
As investors considered the current situation in Russia-Ukraine, Asian stock markets were mainly higher, while bond yields continued to fall. Worries about a rate-hiking frenzy by the US Federal Reserve eased overnight after minutes from the most recent policy meeting revealed a more methodical, data-driven approach from central bank officials.
Mid- and small-cap stocks were trading higher in India, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index up 0.33 percent and small-cap stocks up 0.35 percent.
On a stock-by-stock basis, Hero MotoCorp was the highest Nifty gainer, up 2.36 percent to Rs. 2,852.70. Grasim Industries, Tata Motors, Indian Oil Corp, Eicher Motors, and Tata Motors were also among the winners.
Shree Cement, Axis Bank, SBI Life, Sun Pharma, and Britannia Industries, on the other hand, were laggards.
On the BSE, the overall market breadth was positive, with 1,841 shares rising and 673 falling.
Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Titan, PowerGrid, HDFC, and ITC saw the highest increases on the 30-share BSE platform, with their shares jumping as much as 1.08 percent.
The Sensex was down 145 points, or 0.25 percent, to 57,997, while the Nifty was down 30 points, or 0.17 percent, to 17,322.
