Markets Open Higher: Sensex Gains 160 Points, Nifty Tops 24,600; BEL Rises 1%

Markets Open Higher Ahead of RBI Policy Meet; BEL, Tata Steel Among Top Gainers.

Benchmark indices opened on a strong note Monday, buoyed by expectations of a potential interest rate cut as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) begins its three-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.

At 9:24 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 229.73 points at 80,829.64, while the NSE Nifty50 rose 81.55 points to 24,646.90.

According to Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, the market remains in uncharted territory. “A clear direction will emerge based on developments surrounding the US-India trade deal. A tariff of 20% or below would be market-positive. But if the 25% tariff stays, markets could drift lower due to its potential impact on growth and corporate earnings,” he said.

Top Gainers and Losers
Top gainers on the Sensex included:

Tata Steel (+1.96%)

Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) (+1.63%)

Asian Paints (+1.16%)

Mahindra & Mahindra (+1.13%)

UltraTech Cement (+0.95%)

Top laggards were:

Power Grid Corp (-1.44%)

Tech Mahindra (-0.88%)

Sun Pharma (-0.86%)

Infosys (-0.78%)

SBI (-0.58%)

Broader Market and Sectoral Trends
Nifty Midcap100 rose 0.25%, while Nifty Smallcap100 added 0.23%.

India VIX, the volatility index, jumped 4.80%, indicating nervousness despite early gains.

Among sectoral indices:

Nifty Metal was the top performer, up 1.30%, followed by Nifty Auto (+1.09%).

Other gainers: Nifty Realty (+0.47%), Consumer Durables (+0.22%), Media (+0.19%), PSU Bank (+0.24%), Financial Services 25/50 (+0.09%), and Oil & Gas (+0.08%).

On the flip side:

Nifty IT declined 0.38%, Pharma and Healthcare were down 0.37% and 0.36%, respectively.

Private Bank and FMCG slipped 0.22% and 0.10%.

Global Outlook
Vijayakumar noted that recent US jobs data, which showed slowing employment growth, has strengthened expectations of a Fed rate cut in September. “The U.S. economy is clearly slowing. With inflationary pressures from tariffs building, stagflation is a real risk. Markets will closely track incoming data and policy signals,” he added.