Stock markets edged higher in early trade amid lower crude oil prices, buying in Reliance Industries

MUMBAI: Stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty edged higher in opening trade on Thursday amid lower crude oil prices and buying in Reliance Industries.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 201.43 points to 78,782.43 in opening trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty was marginally up 16.35 points to 24,641.

Benchmark indices have been facing divergence since Monday after stock exchanges introduced a new auction mechanism for shares having futures and options (F&O) contracts.

The Closing Auction Session (CAS) in the equity cash segment became operational on Monday, introducing a new auction-based mechanism for determining the closing prices of eligible stocks in a move aimed at making the price discovery process more transparent and robust.

From the Sensex pack, Titan, Reliance Industries, Eternal, Bharat Electronics, State Bank of India and Asian Paints were among the major winners.

Power Grid, Trent, Mahindra & Mahindra and Axis Bank were among the laggards.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded 0.13 per cent lower at USD 79.35 per barrel.

The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday maintained a status quo on its benchmark policy rate for the fourth consecutive meeting and retained the stance as "neutral", with Governor Sanjay Malhotra saying the next move of the central bank on interest rates, as well as policy stance, will be data dependent.

The six-member Monetary Policy Committee unanimously voted to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent, and opted to wait for more clarity on whether higher energy costs in the wake of the West Asia crisis feed into broader inflationary pressures.

The central bank marginally raised the GDP forecast for the current fiscal to 6.7 per cent while slightly lowering the inflation projection to 5 per cent.

"For domestic markets, the macroeconomic narrative has become incrementally more favourable over recent weeks. The Reserve Bank of India's decision to maintain its policy stance while upgrading its growth outlook and lowering its inflation forecast reinforces confidence in the resilience of the domestic economy," Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of HST Wealth, a Research Analyst firm, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea's KOSPI, Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index traded sharply lower, while Shanghai's SSE Composite index quoted marginally higher.

US markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 943.42 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

On Wednesday, the Sensex rose by 152.05 points, or 0.19 per cent, to end at 78,581. The Nifty edged up 9.75 points, or 0.04 per cent, to end at 24,624.65.