Equity benchmarks up in opening deals

New Delhi, May 20 Equity benchmark indices rose in opening deals on Friday led by gains in auto, oil & gas, metals stocks. Also, value buying post recent slump too buoyed the indices.

At 10.07 a.m., Sensex was 1,105 points up at 53,897, whereas Nifty 345 points up at 16,154.

"The excessive volatility in the market is broadly due to two reasons. One, the market has discounted severe monetary tightening by the Fed which is likely to take the Fed funds rate to around 3 per cent in 2023. Two, the market has not fully discounted the probability of the US economy slipping into recession in 2023. Till there is clarity on the second issue, the 'risk-off, risk-on mode' in the market is likely to continue in the near-term. It may take a few weeks for the markets to stabilise," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

FIIs are likely to continue selling since India is the only emerging market where they are sitting on good profits and the market provides the liquidity to sell.

Stocks in Asia and US futures pushed higher Friday amid a bout of relative calm in markets, though worries about a darkening economic outlook and China's Covid struggles could yet stoke more volatility, said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.