After rallying to record highs for most of this month, Indian equity indices opened lower on Monday, tracking losses in Asian peers ahead of Japan’s monetary policy decision on Tuesday.
The BSE Sensex was trading 194 points or 0.27 lower at 71,289. Nifty50 was trading at 21,412, down 44 points or 0.21% at around 9.20 am.
Among Sensex stocks, JSW Steel, ITC, M&M, Power Grid, ICICI Bank, and Axis Bank traded with cuts, while Titan, Sun Pharma, Nestle, and Bajaj Finance opened with gains.
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders shares opened 4.6% higher after the company signed individual shipbuilding contracts with European client worth approximately $42 million.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises shares fell over 4% after the firm sought further extension of a merger deadline from the Indian arm of Japan’s Sony Group to make the scheme effective.
Experts view
“There are two significant factors driving the ongoing strong rally in the market. One, FIIs who have made a ‘u’ turn in their strategy have turned big buyers having invested around Rs 20000 crores, including bulk purchase, in the last 2 weeks. Second, the rally is being driven by segments like banking and IT which were under performers for quite some time,” said V K Vijayakumar, Geojit Financial Services.
“Global and domestic factors, except valuations, are favourable for the market. It makes sense to remain invested, particularly in large caps. Some profit booking can be considered in mid and small caps where valuations are very high,” Vijayakumar said.
Mandar Bhojane, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, said, “Technical charts suggest that the Nifty is in the overbought zone, indicating a potential correction in the near future. Nifty may find support at 21,250, followed by 21,200. On the upside, 21,600 could serve as immediate resistance, followed by 21,700.”
FIIs net buyer
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) purchased shares worth 42,733 crore in the first half of December, after turning net buyers in November, data from National Securities Depository showed.
Global markets
Asia stocks slipped on Monday in a subdued start to a week where Japan’s central bank might edge further away from its uber-easy policies, while a key reading on US inflation is expected to underpin market pricing of interest rate cuts there.
Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.84%. Chinese blue chips edged down 0.2%, following five straight weeks of falls.
S&P 500 futures inched up 0.1%, while Nasdaq futures were near flat. EUROSTOXX 50 futures slipped 0.4% and FTSE futures 0.2%.
Oil prices rise
Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Monday, supported by lower exports from Russia and as attacks by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea raised concerns of oil supply disruption.
Brent crude futures climbed 33 cents, or 0.43%, to $76.88 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $72.13 a barrel, up 35 cents, or 0.5%.
Rupee strengthens
The Indian rupee rose 6 paise to $82.97 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 0.07% to 102.48 level.
(With inputs from agencies)
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(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
