Benchmark stock market indices opened on a positive note on Wednesday, lifted mainly by gains in auto and pharma sector stocks as investors looked ahead to the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee decision. The S&P BSE Sensex advanced 58.51 points to 80,326.13, while the NSE Nifty50 rose 25.65 points to 24,636.75 as of 9:24 am.
According to Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, the market’s attention today will remain on the monetary policy, especially the governor’s tone and comments. He highlighted that banking stocks will be in focus since a rate cut could hurt their net interest margins, whereas a pause—seen as the more probable outcome—would provide stability to the sector.
In early trade, Sun Pharma led the Sensex gainers with a rise of 2.35%, followed by Trent up 1.33%, Mahindra & Mahindra climbing 1.23%, Tech Mahindra higher by 1.14%, and Reliance Industries gaining 0.83%. On the flip side, the top laggards were Eternal, which slipped 1.06%, Bajaj Finance down 1.03%, Bajaj Finserv lower by 0.71%, Bharti Airtel easing 0.46%, and Asian Paints losing 0.44%.
Vijayakumar also noted that foreign institutional investor (FII) selling continues to weigh on the market, leading to a phase of weakness and drift. However, he advised that such periods are ideal for long-term investments, with systematic investment in high-quality large-cap stocks being the preferred strategy for wealth creation.
Meanwhile, broader markets reflected strength, with the Nifty Midcap100 gaining 0.52% and the Nifty Smallcap100 advancing 0.28%. Market volatility softened as India VIX declined by 0.97%.
All sectoral indices displayed positive momentum. Nifty Media emerged as the top performer with a 1.69% rise, followed by Nifty Pharma at 1.13%, Nifty Realty at 1.04%, Nifty Healthcare at 0.98%, and Nifty Auto at 0.72%. Other notable gainers included Nifty Oil & Gas up 0.59%, Nifty Consumer Durables up 0.48%, Nifty Metal up 0.30%, Nifty Private Bank up 0.28%, Nifty FMCG up 0.26%, Nifty Financial Services up 0.18%, and Nifty IT up 0.11%. The Nifty PSU Bank index remained unchanged in early trade.
