MUMBAI: Indian stock markets opened flat on Tuesday amid continued selling pressure from foreign investors. Yesterday, both indices gained even after the selling by foreign investors of Rs 3228 crore. The Nifty index opened at 24,328.85 points with a decline of 10.30 points, or 0.04 per cent, while the Sensex was also flat with a minor gain of 32 points to open at 80,037.20 points.
Experts noted that yesterday’s rally was due to buying by retail investors, which supported the markets, but foreign investors remain in selling mode continuously.
“An interesting feature of yesterday’s 158-point rally in the Nifty is that the up move happened despite the FII sell number at Rs 3228 crores being higher than the DII buy number of Rs 1401 crore. The implication of this change in trend, despite the persistence of FII selling, is that the retail investors are back in buying mode. The decline in the intensity of FII selling bodes well for the market, but FIIs may continue to sell”, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
Among sectoral indices, Nifty Auto, Nifty FMCG, Nifty IT, and Nifty Metal opened with declines, while other indices gained in the opening session. In the Nifty 50 list on the National Stock Exchange, 15 indices opened in the green, while 35 declined. The top openers in the list include NTPC, BEL, and ICICI Bank, while the top losers include M&M, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Life, and Shriram Finance.
“Nifty started the final week with rollovers at 30 per cent as FIIs increased their longs from 33 per cent to 40 per cent in FnO positions. Going forward, call writers are heavily positioned at 24500 where Nifty may face a bout of resistance and only a move above this resistance can short covering be seen towards 24700/24800 range. On immediate basis, 24200 holds an important support on closing basis”, said Soni Patnaik, AVP and Derivatives Research Analyst at JM Financial Services.
In the major quarterly results announcement today, Maruti Suzuki, Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Cipla, Canara Bank, Edelweiss Financial Services, and others are set to announce their second-quarter financial results for FY25.
In other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.55 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged by 1 per cent. Taiwan’s market, however, faced pressure with the Taiwan Weighted index down by 1.72 per cent, and South Korea’s KOSPI index also down marginally at the time of filing this report. (ANI)