Nifty, Sensex open flat; Experts expect Diwali festivities to cheer markets

Mumbai (Maharshtra) [India], October 17 (ANI): Indian stock markets on Thursday opened flat as the balancing by FIIs selling and DIIs buying continues.
The Nifty 50 index opened with a marginal gain of 0.22 per cent or 56.10 points at 25,027.40 points, while the BSE Sensex index opened with a gain of 0.31 per cent at 81,758.07 points, gaining 256.71 points.
Ajay Bagga, Banking and Market Expert told ANI that "US markets remain in a "See No Downside, Hear No Downside and Fear No Downside " Mode. In India, we are expecting pre Diwali cheer to catch up with the markets, albeit a little late. We are moving into the last two weeks before the Diwali spending surge in India and before the US Presidential Election of November 5th. Historically, US markets decline in the month before the Presidential Election and then recover post the declaration of the results. We expect these two factors to help the Indian markets going ahead".
In the sectoral indices on the National Stock Exchange, except Nifty Auto and Nifty Realty, all other indices opened in positive territory, with Nifty IT emerging as the leader in gains, surging 0.53 per cent in the opening session.
In the Nifty 50 shares list, 25 stocks opened with gains while 25 stocks declined in the opening session. Today is the last day of Hyundai Motor India's initial public offering (IPO), which received 42 percent subscription on the second day of bidding on October 16.
"In India the consolidation around Nifty 25000 level is likely to be extended with bouts of FII selling and DII buying. The reemergence of outperformance of smallcaps driven by liquidity is again becoming a cause of concern" said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
In the quarterly announcements today, Infosys, Axis Bank, Wipro, Nestle India, Polycab, Havells, Jindal Stainless, and Tata Communications are the major companies to announce the financial results for the second quarter of FY 25.
In other Asian markets, Hong Kong and Singapore indices gained more than 1 per cent on Thursday, while Japan's Nikkei index was down by 0.60 per cent. South Korea's KOSPI index remained flat at the time of filing this report. (ANI)