The Indian stock market opened sharply higher on Wednesday, November 11, following the Diwali holiday, with the Sensex surging 1,142 points and the Nifty rising 293 points at the opening bell. Buying activity was seen across banking, automobile, power and other major sectors. Shares of IndiGo, Mahindra & Mahindra and Asian Paints were among the leading gainers.
The Indian equity market witnessed broad-based buying at the start of Wednesday's trading session. The BSE Sensex opened 1,142.03 points, or 1.41%, higher at 82,248.68. Meanwhile, the National Stock Exchange's Nifty 50 advanced 293.15 points, or 1.17%, to 25,337.80.
Shares across the automobile, banking, financial services and power sectors recorded gains during early trading. Softer crude oil prices in the international market and increased interest from foreign investors also supported the domestic market.
In the previous trading session on Monday, November 9, the Sensex had closed at 81,106.65, while the Nifty ended at 25,044.65. The stock market remained closed on Tuesday due to the Diwali-Balipratipada holiday. A special Muhurat Trading session had also been conducted on Sunday, November 8, on the occasion of Diwali.
The market rally was broad-based, with gains extending across most of the major listed companies. As many as 28 of the 30 Sensex constituents opened higher. Infosys recorded a marginal decline, while HCL Technologies opened unchanged.
A similar trend was visible in the Nifty 50. Of its 50 constituents, 47 stocks opened higher, while only three recorded declines.
IndiGo shares led the early market gains, opening 2.55% higher. Mahindra & Mahindra followed with a gain of 2.45%, while Asian Paints advanced 2.29%.
Power Grid shares opened 1.88% higher, while Adani Ports gained 1.66%.
Buying activity was also recorded across financial sector stocks. Bajaj Finance advanced 1.60%, Bajaj Finserv gained 1.53% and Axis Bank rose 1.48%.
Among other major companies, Hindustan Unilever opened 1.46% higher, State Bank of India gained 1.45%, while Maruti Suzuki and ICICI Bank each advanced 1.35%.
Several other major companies also contributed to the market's early gains. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) opened 1.28% higher, HDFC Bank gained 1.20%, Bharti Airtel advanced 1.16% and Kotak Mahindra Bank rose 1.15%.
Trent shares gained 1.13%, Larsen & Toubro advanced 1.10% and UltraTech Cement rose 1.06%.
ITC opened 0.90% higher, while Tata Steel and Reliance Industries gained 0.81% and 0.66%, respectively.
Among other stocks, Eternal advanced 0.58%, Titan gained 0.51%, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries rose 0.50% and NTPC increased 0.49%.
Trading in the IT sector remained mixed. TCS shares opened 0.21% higher, while Tech Mahindra gained 0.17%. In contrast, Infosys declined marginally by 0.03%.
