After hitting fresh record highs the previous day, benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 traded in the red on Friday, dragged down by banking and IT stocks.
The BSE Sensex was trading 198 points, lower at 76,611. The Nifty50 was down 44 points, trading at 23,354 around 9:35 am.
From the Sensex pack, HUL, M&M, Titan, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, and Axis Bank opened with gains, while Tech Mahindra, NTPC, JSW Steel, HCL Tech, and IndusInd Bank opened with losses.
On the sectoral front, Nifty Realty surged 0.5% and Consumer Durables rose 0.4%, while Nifty Bank, IT, Media, and Metal traded in the red.
Among individual stocks, Ambuja Cements rose 4% after the Adani Group-owned firm announced the signing of a binding agreement for the acquisition of Penna Cement (PCIL) at an enterprise value of Rs 10,422 crore.
Ceramic firm Nitco shares opened with a 5% upper circuit after its board approved a monetisation of immovable property in Mumbai and conveyance deed worth Rs 232 crore with Runwal Construction.
Experts View
“In the near-term the market is likely to be range bound since there are no major triggers till the budget,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
“Since the valuations are high, particularly in the broader market, any significant up move will invite selling from the FIIs. If the market trends down DIIs and retail investors will pursue a buy on dips strategy that has worked very well in this market. Investors should now take a medium to long-term view and remain invested in the market focusing on fairly valued largecaps,” Vijayakumar said.
Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, said, “Nifty can find support at 23,300 followed by 23,200 and 23,150. On the higher side, 23,450 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 23,500 and 23,600.”
Global Markets
Asian stocks fell on Friday as investors pondered the outlook for U.S. rates after the Federal Reserve tempered its rate-cut views even as inflation came in softer than expected.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.48% lower. Chinese stocks also fell, with the blue chip shares down 0.3%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 0.79% lower.
Japan’s Nikkei declined 0.25%, while the yen was slightly weaker at 157.185 per dollar in early trading ahead of the BOJ meeting where the central bank is likely to keep interest rates ultra-low.
FII/DII Tracker
The Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 3,033 crore on June 13, while domestic institutional investors also sold equities worth Rs 553 crore on the same day.
Oil Prices Fall
Oil prices fell on Friday but were on track for their first weekly gain in four weeks as markets assessed the impact of higher-for-longer U.S. interest rates versus solid outlooks for crude and fuel demand this year.
Currency Watch
Brent crude futures were down 41 cents, or 0.51%, to $82.34 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) U.S. crude futures lost 47 cents, or 0.6%, to trade at $78.14 a barrel, reversing small gains in the previous session.
The Indian rupee opened flat at 83.54 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, rose 0.09% to 105.28 level.
(With inputs from agencies)
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
