Indian equity markets opened higher on Monday, buoyed by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s dovish comments at Jackson Hole and positive global cues.

The Nifty 50 index opened at 24,906.10, up from Friday’s close of 24,823.15, while the Sensex started the day at 81,388.26, higher than its previous close of 81,086.21.

At 11 am, Sensex jumped by 0.68% to 549.44 pts to trade at 81,635.65.

GIFT Nifty trends indicated a gain of 60 points for the broader index. Deven Mehata, Derivative Analyst at Choice Broking, noted, “Nifty can find support at 24,750 followed by 24,700 and 24,650. On the higher side, 24,900 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 25,000 and 25,050.”

The market’s positive sentiment was largely attributed to Powell’s speech, which hinted at potential rate cuts. Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd., said, “Gift Nifty is off to a strong start, buoyed by Jerome Powell’s dovish speech at Jackson Hole, where he hinted at a potential rate cut in September.”

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹1,944 crore on August 23, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) purchased ₹2,896 crore worth of shares on the same day.

At 9:30 am, major gainers on the NSE included ONGC (2.29%), Wipro (1.65%), LTIMindtree (1.36%), Tech Mahindra (1.29%), and TCS (1.13%). Top losers were Apollo Hospitals (-1.01%), HDFC Life (-0.99%), Grasim (-0.96%), ITC (-0.67%), and Hero Motocorp (-0.53%).

Vikas Jain, Head of Research at Reliance Securities, stated, “NIFTY-50 has closed flat in a doji candle and sustenance above 24,800 levels confirm a strong breakout on the higher side to scale a new all-time high.”

However, analysts cautioned about potential volatility due to the upcoming F&O August series expiry and rising oil prices amid Middle East tensions.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research at Kotak Securities, advised, “Buying on dips and selling on ups would be the ideal strategy for traders now.”

The market will be watching for upcoming reports on budget deficits, foreign exchange reserves, infrastructure output, and GDP later in the week.