Market Opening Bell: Indian benchmark indices opened in green on Friday, February 14, 2025, amid mixed global cues. While the 30-share BSE Sensex was up over 200 points in early trade, the NSE Nifty started at above 23,100.
The BSE Sensex gained 250.02 points or 0.32 per cent to trade at 76,388.99, while the NSE Nifty 50 climbed 65.05 points to 23,096.45 in the opening trade. The positive start comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US President Donald Trump at the Oval Office on Thursday. Also, India and the US have agreed to conclude the first phase of a mutually beneficial ambitious trade pact by this year and set a target of USD 500 billion in annual bilateral trade by 2030.
From the 30-share blue-chip pack, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, Infosys, ITC, Tech Mahindra and Maruti were among the biggest gainers.
Adani Ports, Zomato, Sun Pharma and NTPC were among the laggards.
Earlier, GIFT Nifty - an early indicator for equity market indices - hinted at a positive start for the Nifty 50 index. At 8 AM, Gift Nifty was seen trading at 23,203.
Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei 225 was down by 0.39 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up by 2.47 per cent.
Stock Markets on Thursday
Earlier on Thursday, benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty pared early gains to close lower for the seventh straight day, dragged by fag-end selling in select IT and banking shares and foreign fund outflows.
The 30-share BSE Sensex dipped 32.11 points or 0.04 per cent to settle at 76,138.97. The index stayed in the positive zone for the most part of the session. The benchmark gyrated 751.1 points between the day's high of 76,764.53 and low of 76,013.43.
The NSE Nifty slipped 13.85 points or 0.06 per cent to 23,031.40.
Meanwhile, investors suffered an erosion of Rs 18 lakh crore in six days of market fall. On February 12, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms slumped Rs 18,04,418 crore to Rs 4,07,46,408.11 crore (USD 4.69 trillion) since February 4.
Rupee Rises
The rupee appreciated 8 paise to 86.85 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday as the American currency retreated from elevated level and domestic equity markets shows favourable trend.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 86.86 and gained further ground to trade at 86.85 against the greenback during early deals, up 8 paise from its previous close.
On Thursday, the rupee settled almost flat with a gain of just 2 paise at 86.93 against the US dollar.
With PTI inputs