Indian benchmark equity indices opened flat on Tuesday amid mixed global cues, with gains in Reliance Industries, Infosys and ITC offset by TCS and HDFC Bank.
The BSE Sensex was trading 56 points or 0.08% higher at 71,370. Nifty50 was trading at 21,426, up 8 points or 0.04% at around 9.18 am.
From the Sensex stocks, Nestle India, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, NTPC, and Maruti opened in the green, while TCS, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Kotak Bank opened in the red.
Among individual stocks, Apollo Tyres opened 7% higher amid a 4.5% block deal in the counter.
Vedanta shares opened 2.4% higher after the company declared a second interim dividend of Rs 11 per share for fiscal 2024. The record date for the dividend is set at December 27.
Devyani International rose nearly 8% after the India KFC operator entered Thailand with a $129 million deal.
On the sectoral front, Nifty Media fell 0.8%, while Nifty IT declined 0.45%. Nifty Bank, Auto, Financial Services, and Metal also declined. In the broader market, Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.2%, while Nifty Smallcap 100 surged 0.4%.
Experts Views
“The market is likely to move into a consolidation phase as the Christmas holidays and the New Year approach. A period of consolidation after the sharp run up of the last two weeks is also desirable since it will make the market healthy,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
“Instead of rushing to buy, investors can adopt a strategy of buy on dips. It would be risky to chase the overvalued mid and small caps which have run up too much, too fast, on retail investor exuberance. Investors can buy high quality large caps on dips. Another pocket of safety is PSU banks which are attractively valued,” Vijayakumar suggested.
Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, “Nifty can find support at 21,320 followed by 21,250 and 21,220. On the higher side, 21,500 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 21,650 and 21,700.”
Global Markets
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) maintained its ultra-loose monetary settings on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.2% weaker and just below a four-month high. China’s Shanghai fell 0.02%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.6%.
Meanwhile, in the US, Dow Jones ended flat, while the S&P 500 rose o.45% and Nasdaq surged 0.6%.
FII/DII Tracker
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Indian shares worth Rs 33 crore on a net basis on Monday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 413 crore, according to provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.
Crude Oil
Oil prices were mixed on Tuesday, with the US benchmark dipping while Brent extended gains from the previous session, as attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militants on ships in the Red Sea disrupted maritime trade and forced companies to reroute vessels.
Brent crude futures rose 10 cents, or 0.13%, to $78.05 a barrel. The front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude futures contract, which expires on Tuesday, fell 7 cents to $72.40 a barrel. The more active second-month contract was down 5 cents, or 0.07%, to $72.77.
Currency Watch
The Indian rupee fell 3 paise to $83.13 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, declined 0.01% to 102.55 level.
(With inputs from agencies)
(You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
