The Indian stock market opened higher on Friday, October 30, with both the Sensex and Nifty trading in positive territory. Buying interest was visible in IT and pharmaceutical stocks, while shares of several major companies, including Trent, Infosys and Sun Pharma, recorded gains. However, market gains remained selective, with selling pressure across metal, automobile and consumer durables stocks.
The benchmark indices started Friday’s session on a positive note. During early trade, the BSE Sensex rose 71.45 points, or 0.10%, to reach 74,222.49. The NSE Nifty 50 gained 22.15 points to trade at 22,958.90.
The market had also recorded gains on Thursday. The Sensex closed 905.01 points higher at 74,151.04, while the Nifty advanced 237.90 points to settle at 22,936.75. The upward movement continued during Friday’s opening session, although investor participation remained selective.
Despite gains in the benchmark indices, the broader market did not reflect an across-the-board upward trend. During early trading, 1,086 stocks advanced, while 1,221 declined. A total of 171 stocks remained unchanged.
The figures indicated that gains in the benchmark indices were supported primarily by selected large-cap stocks. Shares of small-cap and mid-cap companies also faced selling pressure.
The IT sector led the gains during early trading on Friday. The Nifty IT index advanced 1.28% to 32,275. Pharmaceutical stocks also witnessed buying interest, with the Nifty Pharma index rising 0.98% and the Healthcare index gaining 0.84%. The MidSmall Healthcare index advanced 0.48%.
In contrast, the Consumer Durables index declined 1.79%. The Metal index fell 0.81%, followed by Media, which dropped 0.79%. The FMCG index declined 0.69%, while the Auto index slipped 0.52%.
Among the Nifty 50 constituents, Trent recorded the biggest gain during early trading, rising 5.25% to Rs 3,011.80. Buying interest in the stock increased following the company's quarterly results.
Sun Pharma advanced 1.87%, while InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of IndiGo, gained 1.47%. Infosys rose 1.31%, and TCS added 0.96%.
Other IT stocks also traded higher. HCL Technologies gained 0.92%, while Tech Mahindra advanced 0.90%.
Several major stocks remained under selling pressure during the opening session. Coal India declined 1.28%. Shriram Finance and Tata Steel both fell approximately 1.12%.
UltraTech Cement slipped 1.06%. Adani Ports declined 0.79%, while Adani Enterprises was down 0.69%.
