New Delhi, 16 April (H.S.):

Bolstered by strong global cues, India's equity benchmarks displayed resilience in early trading on Thursday, opening higher before profit-booking triggered dips. Despite bouts of selling, both the Sensex and Nifty remained in positive territory, with the BSE Sensex up 0.19% and the NSE Nifty up 0.21% as of 10 AM.

Blue-chip performers included Hindalco Industries, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Infosys, and Larsen & Toubro, which gained between 1.37% and 2.73%. In contrast, Sun Pharma, Tata Consumer Products, Apollo Hospitals, Coal India, and Nestle declined 0.50% to 0.86%. Among active stocks, 2,746 saw trading volume, with 1,866 advancing and 880 declining; Sensex's 30 constituents had 20 gainers versus 10 decliners, while Nifty's 50 stocks showed 32 green and 18 red.

The BSE Sensex opened 566.32 points higher at 78,677.56, peaking at 78,730.32 before sliding to 78,241.63 on sustained selling. It stabilized at 78,255.73, up 144.49 points by 10 AM. Similarly, the NSE Nifty debuted 153.90 points up at 24,385.20, touched 24,400.95, then dipped to 24,275.20 amid profit-taking, closing the first half-hour firmly green at 24,281.80, up 50.50 points.

This followed Wednesday's robust close, where Sensex surged 1,263.67 points (1.64%) to 78,111.24 and Nifty rose 388.65 points (1.63%) to 24,231.30, setting a bullish tone for today's session.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar