Indian stocks opened higher on Friday, rebounding after two consecutive sessions of declines. Sentiment was bolstered by hopes that diplomatic talks between Iran and Qatar could ease tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, potentially reducing supply disruption risks stemming from the Middle East conflict.
Gains were tempered, however, by prevailing caution ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium later in the day, which is expected to offer critical signals on the future path of U.S. interest rates.
In early trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 289 points, or 0.4%, to 77,222, while the NSE Nifty 50 index climbed 67 points, or 0.3%, to 24,157.
Information technology stocks led the advance. HCL Technologies surged over 3% after announcing a collaboration with chemicals and biotechnology firm Wacker Chemie to establish a global capability center in Pune. Wipro gained 1.7% following the expansion of its partnership with Google Cloud to drive enterprise-wide adoption of Gemini Enterprise and agentic AI solutions.
Vedanta rallied 2.4% on reports the company plans to raise at least ₹1,000 crore via local-currency bonds in the coming weeks. Hero MotoCorp rose 1.3% after confirming it would increase its stake in Ather Energy to 32.8% from 29.88%. ACME Solar added more than 1% after securing ₹1,571 crore in long-term funding from the India Infrastructure Finance Company.
