FX.co ★ Sensex, Nifty Open Lower In Cautious Trade; Auto Stocks Surge

Indian stocks started off on a weak note on Thursday, influenced by increased bond yields and the questionable ceasefire arrangement in Gaza which overshadowed the impressive trade data from China. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex saw a 200 point decrease, or 0.3 percent, settling at 73,267 points in the early trading session. Concurrently, the broader NSE Nifty index also dropped by 59 points, representing a 0.3 percent decrease to 22,243 points.

Larsen & Toubro's shares fell by an alarming 3.6 percent after the company announced its fourth quarter results, which were as expected. It was a similar situation for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation; both their shares declined over 1 percent as investors remain cautious ahead of their upcoming earnings announcement.

In contrast, automobile manufacturers witnessed comprehensive gains. Shares of Hero MotoCorp shot up by nearly 6 percent, while Maruti Suzuki India, Eicher Motors, Bajaj Auto, and Mahindra & Mahindra saw an increase of 1-3 percent in their stocks.

According to reports, Kotak Mahindra's shares saw a minimal 0.6 percent rise, as the bank is speculated to beef up its technology transition. In another welcome news, the Reserve Bank of India lifted its ban on customer onboarding via bob World, Bank of Baroda's mobile banking application. This propelled the bank's stocks, which went up by 2.3 percent.

Canara Bank's shares advanced by 1.5 percent on the back of an 18 percent increase in their Q4 net profit. However, Tata Power saw a shock, their stocks fell more than 2 percent after their Q4 results fell short of expectations.

TVS Motor Company's shares jumped by 5 percent as the company posted an 18 percent year-on-year rise in the quarterly profit. Concurrently, SBI's shares climbed half a percent in anticipation of its upcoming earnings report.