Indian stocks open with marginal gains, bull run continues

NEW DELHI: Extending gains from the previous session, Indian stocks opened Wednesday's trade with marginal gains primarily due to firm overseas cues.

Wall Street registered another broadly higher close on Tuesday even as Big Tech stocks fell in cautious trade ahead of the release of the highlyanticipated minutes of the Federal Reserve's July meeting. Back home, at 9.22 a.m., Sensex traded at 59,992.45 points, up 150.24 points or 0.25 per cent, whereas Nifty traded at 17,874.95 points, up 49.70 point or 0.28 per cent.

Among the Nifty 50 stocks, 37 advanced, 12 declined and 1 traded steady, National Stock Exchange data showed. Pertinent to mention here, Indian stocks this week marked the fifth consecutive week of gains pushed by fresh buying by foreign portfolio investors and some moderation in inflation.

India's retail inflation fell to 6.71 per cent in July from 7.01 per cent in June, the lowest level in five months, helped by an easing in food and oil prices, as per the National Statistical Office (NSO) data released this Friday. Benchmark indices - Sensex and Nifty - rose over 11 per cent in the past four weeks on a cumulative basis, thereby recovering the entire losses they witnessed so far in 2022.

In fact, the domestic equity markets marked their best week since February 2021 in July. "Declining US inflation, confidence that the Fed need not have to aggressively raise rates and the increasing probability of a soft landing of the US economy are supporting this rally.

In India, steadily declining inflation, strong growth momentum in the economy and FIIs turning consistent buyers are driving the rally," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.