The Indian stock market opened on a negative note on Wednesday, with broad-based selling across sectors, except for private banks.
The Sensex dropped 414 points, trading at 78,260, while the Nifty fell 167 points to 23,706.
Market sentiment remained weak, with 1,948 stocks declining on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), compared to 335 gaining.
The Nifty Bank index saw a slight gain, rising 36.60 points to 51,194.40. Meanwhile, the Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 882.20 points to 54,375.30, a loss of 1.60%, and the Nifty Small Cap 100 index plunged 372.85 points to 17,618.75, down 2.07%.
Among the top losers on the Sensex were M&M, Tata Steel, Maruti, Sun Pharma, Reliance, Nestle India, JSW Steel, and Power Grid. On the other hand, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, and HDFC emerged as the top gainers.
Experts noted that global market variations are becoming a notable trend this year, with the US market leading with a 26.17% year-to-date (YTD) return in the S&P 500.
India, by comparison, is underperforming, showing only 9.85% YTD returns on the Nifty.
Experts stated, “The Euro Zone index Stoxx 50 has given only 5.14% YTD returns. The performance of the economy and expectations around earnings growth are the main factors behind this variation in performance.”
Asian & US Markets Close Lower; Jakarta & Bangkok See Gains
In the Asian markets, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, and Hong Kong were also in the red, while Jakarta and Bangkok saw positive movement. The US stock market had also closed lower in the previous session.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 3,024 crore on 12 November, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 1,854 crore on the same day.
Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research at Axis Securities, notes that the key support zone for Nifty now lies between 23,700 and 23,779.
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