Indian stock market opens lower for 5th straight session amid foreign outflows, US visa curbs

MUMBAI: The Indian stock market opened lower on Thursday, declining for a fifth straight trading session as continued foreign fund outflows and US visa curbs kept market participants on edge.

At the opening of the trading session, the BSE Sensex was down over 180 points at 81,574.31, and the Nifty 50 at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was down by over 51 points at 25,034.50.

Stocks of about 1182 firms advanced, 1186 stocks declined, and 151 shares remained unchanged in the opening session.

On NSE, the stocks of Hindalco, Dr Reddy’s Labs, ONGC, Tata Steel, and Tata Consumer were among the major gainers, while the major losers were Tata Motors, Bajaj Finance, Titan Company, Maruti Suzuki, and Hero MotoCorp.

Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, in its market outlook, added that the sentiment of the market is weighed down by weak global cues, ongoing concerns surrounding the US-India trade negotiations, and continued selling by FIIs.

Observing the markets, Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, added, “Though 25000 held downsides yet again, the upswings thereof failed to gain enough momentum to push beyond the 25278/330 region, which we had pencilled in as a potential upside marker. Towards this end, the 24880-800 trajectory continues to persist.”

Overnight, US markets declined by 0.3 per cent, while Asian markets opened marginally lower as stretched valuations in US equities dampened investor sentiment.

European stocks slipped on Wednesday as investors tempered optimism around the path of US interest-rate cuts. Defence stocks advanced following President Donald Trump’s comments on NATO and Ukraine. Both Germany and France Index gained 0.3 per cent each, while the UK Index declined by 0.5 per cent.

Asian stocks traded in a tight range at the open after losses on Wall Street as signs of fatigue crept into the AI-fuelled equity rally. Shares in Japan and Australia edged up while those in South Korea retreated.

Gift Nifty is currently trading down by 0.2 per cent.

According to the market analysts, the outcome of the visit of Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will influence the market sentiment.

The Minister with officials are expected to press US trade negotiators this week to ease restrictions for skilled Indian workers, following President Trump’s recent announcement to curb H-1B visas, Motilal Oswal added.

In the forecast, analysts had said that markets would strongly react to the US President’s executive order imposing an annual fee of USD 100,000 on H-1B visas, which is now visible. (ANI)