Sensex, Nifty jump on opening, follow Wall Street gains; key things to know at opening bell

Ending the September month over 2 per cent lower, domestic equity market benchmarks BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 started October month on a strong footing. S&P BSE Sensex was trading 391 points higher while the 50-stock Nifty was seen moving past the 11,300 mark. The headline indices took cues from the global markets, after the Wall Street closed higher in the overnight trade on the hopes of new pandemic relief package and upbeat economic data. Market participants will react to the fiscal deficit data and infrastructure output number released after market hours on Wednesday. Besides, auto sales numbers for September, rising COVID-19 cases, stock-specific action, oil prices, news flow related to coronavirus vaccine and rupee trajectory will continue to sway the market sentiment today. Here are the ket things guiding the market today:

SGX Nifty up 1%: Trends on SGX Nifty suggested a gap-up opening for Sensex and Nifty on Thursday. Nifty futures were trading 114.20 points or 1.02 per cent higher at 11,358.50 on Singaporean Exchange.

Core industries output falls: The output of core industries in India broke the improvement trend and shrank more than the previous month in August 2020. Infrastructure output shrank 8.5 percent on-year in August, following a contraction of 8 per cent in July 2020, according to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

Auto sales numbers: In today’s trade, auto stocks will remain in focus as sales numbers for the month of September will release. Analysts believe that sales momentum will continue ahead of festive season.

IPO watch: Today is the last day for bidding for UTI AMC, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders and Likhitha Infrastructure IPOs. On the second day of bidding, Likhitha Infrastructure and Mazagon Dock were oversubscribed while UTI AMC’s IPO was subscribed over 78% at the end of day two.

Bulk and block deals: In a series of block deals on BSE, VFTR C Institutional Total International Stock Market Index Trust II bought shares of Adani Green Energy, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, BPCL, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, HCL Technologies, HDFC, Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, Infosys, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle India, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, UltraTech Cements and Wipro from Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund.

FII and DII data: On Wednesday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 712.48 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 409.47 crore on a net basis, according to the provisional data available on the NSE.

Global markets: In Asian stock markets, Japan’s Tokyo Stock Exchange suspended trading on Thursday due to a technical issue. While the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gained 1.54 per cent. Singapore’s Straits Times index also jumped 1.31 per cent. US stock indices closed solidly higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 0.83 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.74 per cent.