Mumbai, Feb 23: The stock market kicked off the trading day on a positive note, with stock indices opening higher in the green territory, fueled by optimistic global market sentiments.

The benchmark Sensex surged 100.80 points to open at 73,259.04, while the Nifty climbed 34.90 points, opening at 22,252.35.

At the onset of the trading session, 36 companies listed on the Nifty index witnessed advances, while 13 faced declines.

Leading the gainers were Hero Motocorp, Wipro, LTIMindtree, Tech Mahindra, and JSE Steel, while Asian Paints, Britannia, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, and Apollo Hospitals were among the top losers.

Trends in the Gift Nifty suggested an upward opening for the Indian benchmark index, with Gift Nifty trading around the 22,302.50 level, compared to the previous close of 22,270 for Nifty futures.

Varun Aggarwal, founder and managing director, Profit Idea, said, "Despite witnessing high volatility, the Nifty formed a fresh lifetime high of 22,252.50 and achieved its highest closing at 22,236.5. While trading volumes remained relatively lower, indicators such as the hourly MACD signal and the daily MACD histogram indicated bullish momentum improvement. The daily RSI also remained in the bullish zone, despite negative divergences across all time frames".

In the broader Asian market scenario, equities continued their ascent, with shares in Australia and South Korea posting gains.

The rally was fueled by a buoyant outlook for Nvidia Corp., which surged 16 per cent amid artificial-intelligence optimism.

However, concerns lingered in China regarding an entrenched economic slowdown, notably in the housing market.

Treasury 10-year yields remained steady at 4.32 per cent, while oil prices stabilized in Asia amidst considerations of tightening supply versus demand concerns.

Gold prices fluctuated following US economic data and signals from the Federal Reserve about its interest rate policy.

Thursday witnessed a surge in equities driven by short-covering and fresh long positions, particularly on the weekly derivative expiry day. The Nifty closed at 22,217.45, marking a gain of 162.40 points, or 0.74 per cent.

Notably, only Nifty and FinNifty closed in negative territory by 0.21 per cent and 0.10 per cent, respectively. The Nifty IT and Auto indices emerged as top gainers, rising by 1.94 per cent and 1.64 per cent, respectively.

Market breadth remained positive, with 1412 stocks advancing and 1116 declining. Moreover, 105 stocks hit a new 52-week high, with 84 trading in the upper circuit. Key trading counters included HDFC Bank, Reliance, JioFin, and ABB.

The positive opening of the stock market reflects investor confidence and optimism amidst favorable global cues and robust domestic indicators.

(ANI)

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