Mumbai: The Indian benchmark indices opened with mild losses on Friday, impacted by sustained foreign institutional investors (FII) selling despite positive global cues and market optimism fueled by the Reserve Bank of India’s dovish pause.

As of 9:20 am, the Sensex was down 191 points, or 0.24%, at 80,792, while the Nifty declined 56 points, or 0.23%, at 24,780. In contrast, the broad-cap indices showed modest gains, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 inching up 0.22% and 0.14%, respectively.

Among the major gainers on the Nifty pack were Tata Steel, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Motors, and Asian Paints. On the other hand, Max Healthcare, Bajaj Finance, Shriram Finance, and ICICI Bank were notable losers.

Sectoral performance highlighted Nifty Metal as the top gainer, advancing 0.89%. Other significant gainers included Nifty PSU Bank, up 0.59%, and Nifty Pharma, up 0.30%. Meanwhile, Nifty Media and Nifty FMCG were the leading laggards, down 0.65% and 0.45%, respectively.

From a technical perspective, analysts suggest that a sustained move above 24,900 could pave the way for a rally toward 25,000 and 25,150. Immediate support levels are placed at 24,750 and 24,600, which may serve as potential entry points for long trades.

Global markets closed mostly positive overnight. The US markets ended in the green zone, with Nasdaq gaining 0.39%, the S&P 500 adding 0.06%, and the Dow rising 0.17%.

Asia-Pacific markets mostly followed Wall Street gains on Friday, as investors appeared unfazed by the ongoing US government shutdown. Market participants are closely watching the duration of the shutdown to evaluate its economic impact.

In the region, China’s Shanghai index rose 0.52%, and Shenzhen advanced 0.35%. Japan’s Nikkei added 1.44%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.84%. South Korea’s Kospi showed the strongest performance with a 2.70% rise.

Analysts noted that the Reserve Bank of India’s bold initiatives to boost credit growth could help sustain positive momentum in the market, especially in the Bank Nifty segment. However, continued selling pressure from FIIs may hinder this momentum. FIIs are expected to accelerate their selling as market conditions provide them opportunities to sell aggressively.

Robust buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) can offer some support, particularly in large-cap auto stocks that possess strong fundamental backing.

In the last trading session on Wednesday, FIIs sold equities worth ₹1,605 crore, whereas DIIs were net buyers to the tune of ₹2,916 crore.

*Disclaimer: This story is from a syndicated feed. No changes have been made except to the headline.*
https://www.freepressjournal.in/business/sensex-nifty-fall-despite-positive-global-cues-market-optimism