Sensex, Nifty open higher on Nvidia boost; IT leads gains, power stocks drag

Markets opened moderately higher on Thursday morning, tracking positive cues from Wall Street and Asian markets after Nvidia’s blockbuster quarterly results lifted sentiment across global technology stocks. The BSE Sensex, which closed at 82,276.07 on Wednesday, opened at 82,418.78 and was trading at 82,319.78, up 43.71 points or 0.05 per cent, as of 9.55 am. The NSE Nifty50, which ended the previous session at 25,482.50, opened at 25,556.30 and was at 25,504.35, up 21.85 points or 0.09 per cent, at the same time.

The positive opening follows Nvidia reporting fourth-quarter revenue of $68.13 billion, beating analyst forecasts, and guiding for $78 billion in the current quarter against expectations of $72.6 billion. The chip giant gained 4 per cent in after-hours trade. All three major U.S. indexes advanced, with the Nasdaq posting the largest gains, driven by a 1.8 per cent rise in technology stocks following Anthropic’s announcement of new business integrations for its Claude AI tool. Software stocks including Salesforce, ServiceNow, and DocuSign rallied as investors regained confidence in the sector’s resilience to AI disruption.

Asian markets also advanced in early trade, with Taiwan, South Korea, Brazil, and Japan’s Nikkei all reaching new highs, aided by a softer U.S. dollar index, which edged down to 97.5 amid uncertainty over the White House’s response to the Supreme Court’s February 20 ruling that struck down emergency tariffs.

On the Nifty50, information technology stocks led the gainers. Tech Mahindra rose 2.14 per cent to ₹1,391, Infosys gained 1.42 per cent to ₹1,308.40, and HCL Technologies advanced 1.32 per cent to ₹1,396.40. In the healthcare space, Max Healthcare climbed 1.49 per cent to ₹1,104.35, while Sun Pharmaceutical rose 1.31 per cent to ₹1,787.30. On the losing side, Eternal fell 0.72 per cent to ₹248.40, NTPC slipped 0.71 per cent to ₹382.15, Hindustan Unilever declined 0.61 per cent to ₹2,360.30, Adani Enterprises dropped 0.60 per cent to ₹2,218.30, and Power Grid fell 0.49 per cent to ₹305.75.

In the previous session, the Metal Index outperformed with a 2.60 per cent rally, while FMCG and oil and gas stocks saw mild profit-taking. Broader markets remained resilient, with midcap indices outperforming the benchmarks.

On institutional flows, domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹3,639.97 crore in the cash market on Wednesday, while foreign institutional investors added ₹3,024.50 crore. Hariprasad K, SEBI-registered Research Analyst and Founder of Livelong Wealth, noted that despite the buying, “...conviction remains limited” and cautioned that “...the change in open interest data reveals a subtle bearish undertone across index derivatives.” He added that the RSI at 46 signals “...a lack of directional strength,” reinforcing the view of a market in consolidation rather than in a trend.

Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments, pointed to an important anomaly: “...despite large institutional buying — FII and DII combined — the market is not surging.” He warned that “...bears are getting stronger and shorts are increasing, pulling the market down,” and advised investors to “...slowly accumulate fundamentally strong, quality stocks like financials which are available at fair valuations.” He also noted that “...IT stocks are stabilising after the 20 per cent crash in the last one month.”

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research at Kotak Securities, identified 25,650 on the Nifty and 82,600 on the Sensex as immediate resistance zones, with a potential downside toward the 200-day SMA at 25,300–25,350 if those levels hold. Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities, described the Nifty as “range-bound in the short term between 25,300 and 25,700,” with a decisive break in either direction needed to trigger the next meaningful move.

Aakash Shah, Technical Research Analyst at Choice Equity Broking, advised “...a cautious and stock-specific approach with disciplined risk management” for the session, with IT, auto, metals, and pharma showing relative strength.

Published on February 26, 2026