Stock Market Today Opening: Nifty, Sensex Open Flat With Firm Broader Market; BSE, Reliance Infra Gainers

Stock Market Today Opening: The Indian stock market witnessed a flat start of Friday's session against its global peers, which underperformed amid geopolitical uncertainty due to Donald Trump's tariffs.

Stock Market Today on March 28

After Gift Nifty indicted a negative start, Nifty 50 retained its Thursday's gains and opened higher at 23600 points. Whereas, BSE Sensex was up 0.11% and opened at 77690. Nifty Bank and Nifty Midcap 100 also performed well.

BSE shares zoomed nearly 7% during the pre-market session. However, Auto and IT stocks including Hero MotoCorp, Ashok Leyland, TVS Motors, M&M, LTI Mindtree, Wipro, Infosys, HCL Tech, etc were in red during the opening trade session.

The Indian equity markets bounced back on Thursday, after witnessing continuous sessions of weakness. Nifty reclaimed its 23,500 mark whereas, BSE Sensex was up 317 points yesterday.

Nifty, Sensex top gainers

Shares of ONGC, Tata Consumer Products, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Nestle India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Asian Paints, ITC, etc emerged as the top gainers on Nifty and Sensex Friday morning.

Nifty, Sensex top laggards

Amid stock market volatility and geopolitical tensions surrounding Donald Trump trade tariffs, shares of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Shriram Finance, Cipla, Wipro, Infosys, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, HCL Tech, etc were trading in red today.

Nifty, Sensex End Higher on Thursday

Nifty 50 closed 100 points higher to 23,591.95 and BSE Sensex jumped 317 points to close at 77606 points. Nifty Bank PSU, Auto and Pharma sectors emerged as the biggest gainers of the session. As the stock market indices draw a positive close to March's session, people will be keenly observing the impact of United States President Donald Trump's trade tariffs set to be imposed from 1 April.

During Thursday's session, Nifty 50 and Sensex opened on a weak note but gained momentum in the second half of the session. Other indices like Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 also remained resilient throughout the session.

Asia-Pacific markets

The international stock market is reacting to Donald Trump's tariff threats keeping the investors on edge. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.36% whereas Japan's Nikkei 25 lost 2.02% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose nominally by 0.49%. Auto stocks were the worst hit across the region after Trump imposed a 25% tariff on auto parts and cars exported to America.

The international stock market will keenly track the US Q4 GDP data, which will be released, followed by US CPI data for February, released on Friday.

Stocks in Focus Today

HAL

The delivery of the first F404-IN20 engines to Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd has brought cheers among investors about the prospects of the defence PSU stock in the near future. The stock soared nearly 4% during Wednesday trade and made gains yesterday as well. The stock will remain in focus today as well.

Jindal Steel and Power

The firm bagged an order for Saradhapur Jalatap East Coal Block.

Force Motors

The company recently confirmed another order of supplying vehicles to the Indian Defence Forces. The automaker was confirmed L1 vendor for the supply of 2978 Force Gurkha light vehicles to the Indian Defence Forces.

Power Finance Corp

PFC recently transferred Kurnool III PS RE Transmission project to Power Grid Corporation.

Stock Market Outlook

Today Stock market experts weigh that the benchmark indices are likely to perform well and consolidate on Friday to bring the financial year 2025 to end on a positive note. However, Donald Trump's trade tariffs implementation plan and US economic data will keep the market on tenterhooks.

"Strong buying across heavyweight financial stocks extended support to the key indices. The global market trend was weak, following US President's announcement of a 25% tariff on foreign-built cars and light trucks from 2nd April. Auto and auto ancillary stocks were under selling pressure, following the announcement; pushing Nifty Auto Index down by 1%.The broader market sentiment remained resilient on the back of continued buying interest, with Nifty Midcap100 and Smallcap100 gaining 0.5% and 1.3% respectively. The PSU Bank index was the top gainer, rising by 2.6% after the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill was passed in the Parliament yesterday. Investors await further details on the US tariff measures and the broader economic outlook ahead of President Trump's deadline. Markets will track the US Q4 GDP data to be released later today and the US CPI for February to be released tomorrow. FIIs were net buyers of over Rs2,200 crore on Wednesday, and more than Rs21,000 crore in the past five trading sessions, supporting the domestic market sentiment. We expect the market to consolidate with a positive bias, tracking outcome of the ongoing US-India trade meet and developments on the global front," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

"After experiencing two days of profit booking, the Nifty Midcap and Small Cap Indices have resumed their upward trajectory. While benchmark indices are expected to open with slight softness due to mild selling in larger stocks, we anticipate that mid and small-cap stocks will maintain a positive momentum, driven by robust demand from local institutional investors," noted Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities.

"We are initiating the April series with an unprecedented open interest of 1,145 crore shares in the stock futures segment. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have begun covering their short positions from the March series. 60% of their total outstanding positions remain on the short side, indicating potential for further short covering in the coming days-a development that bodes well for bulls. Furthermore, 80% of F&O stocks have exhibited long build-up or short covering, suggesting a positive bias for the April series," Vakil added.