The Indian stock market opened lower on Friday, with broad-based selling across all sectors. By 9:29 AM, the Sensex had fallen 449.02 points, or 0.55%, to 80,840.9. Meanwhile, the Nifty dropped 127.55 points, or 0.52%, to 24,421.15.
Indian Stock Market sentiment remained negative, as 1,657 stocks were in the red, compared to 559 in the green. Experts noted that November’s CPI inflation of 5.48% is within the RBI’s target range. If this trend continues, it may lead to a rate cut by the RBI in February. However, a rising dollar poses a risk of imported inflation, which could limit market gains. Analysts expect Nifty to remain within the 24,500-24,850 range.
The Nifty Bank index fell 0.08% to 53,175.50. The Nifty Midcap 100 index and Nifty Smallcap 100 index also dropped by 0.53% and 0.67%, respectively.
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Akshay Chinchalkar of Axis Securities observed that Thursday’s decline showed higher participation, indicating rising nervousness among investors. He added that the Nifty is struggling to break past the key resistance level at 24,700.
In the Sensex pack, Power Grid, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, NTPC, and Tata Motors were the top gainers. On the flip side, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Infosys, M&M, Titan, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, and L&T were the major losers.
Asian markets, including Hong Kong, Bangkok, China, Jakarta, and Japan, were also in the red, except for Seoul. In the US, the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones all closed lower.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 3,560.01 crore on December 12. Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 2,646.65 crore.