Sensex opens over 150 points higher, turns red amid weak global cues

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 150 points in opening trade on Thursday, but soon turned red tracking losses in index majors Axis Bank, TCS and Bajaj Finance amid negative global cues.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 53.09 points or 0.11 per cent lower at 49,849.55, and the broader NSE Nifty declined 48.45 points or 0.32 per cent to 14,981.70.

ONGC was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding around 2 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finance and Nestle India.

On the other hand, Titan, M&M, L&T, Asian Paints and ICICI Bank were among the gainers.

In the previous session, Sensex ended 290.69 points or 0.58 per cent lower at 49,902.64, and Nifty fell 77.95 points or 0.52 per cent to close at 15,030.15.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 697.75 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional exchange data.

Domestic equities look to be flat for the day, said Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities.

According to him, a visible decline in daily caseload has offered comfort to investors, which indicates that earlier assumption of daily caseload in second wave peaking-out by the end of May or mid of June holds true and adverse impact of second wave should not be felt beyond 1QFY22.

"Investors will continue to focus on the trajectory of daily caseload and vaccination ramp-up in the country in the near term," he said.

In the US, equities corrected for the third consecutive day as the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes showed debate emerging within the Federal Reserve over rising inflation.

While FOMC had voted unanimously to maintain accommodative policy in April, minutes showed that some members were open at the possibility of discussion around when to taper USD 120 billion monthly bond buying, he noted.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul were trading on a negative note in mid-session deals, while Nikkei was trading in the positive terrain.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.15 per cent higher at USD 66.76 per barrel.