Stock market today: Indian equity benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty50, opened flat on Tuesday. While BSE Sensex was above 81,000, Nifty50 was near 24,750 levels. At 9:16 AM, BSE Sensex was trading at 81,051.67, up 2 points or 0.0021%. Nifty50 was at 24,788.15, down 8 points or 0.031%.
The Indian stock market has been under pressure for several trading sessions now, with Sensex and Nifty falling due to selling pressure in heavyweight stocks across various sectors.
“Looking ahead, several important data releases and events could influence market direction. Investors will be closely monitoring developments in the geopolitical situation and its impact on crude prices,” said Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking.
Technical analysis by Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities indicates that the Nifty could decline further towards the support levels of 24,500-24,400 in the near term, with immediate resistance at 25,000. The India VIX, a measure of market fear, rose 6.7% to settle at 15.08 levels.
In the United States, the three major indexes closed down around 1% on Monday, while Treasury yields rose as investors reduced their expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and expressed concerns about the impact of the Middle East conflict on oil prices.
Asian stocks also declined, following the losses in the US markets, with investors focusing on the reopening of Chinese markets after a weeklong holiday.
Oil prices edged lower in early Asian trading hours on Tuesday as traders booked profits after prices rallied to their highest in over a month on Monday, amid fears of a potential region-wide war in the Middle East.
The dollar remained strong against major currencies, as investors considered the outlook for US interest rates following a strong jobs report last week, which dampened expectations for significant rate cuts.
Several stocks are in the F&O ban period today, including BirlaSoft, Bandhan Bank, Hindustan Copper, RBL Bank, Granules, Manappuram, GNFC, and IDFC First Bank.
Foreign portfolio investors turned net sellers, offloading shares worth Rs 8,293 crore on Monday, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 13,245 crore.
