Sensex, Nifty Open Lower After Six-Day Rally; Global Cues Mixed

Indian equity markets slipped into the red on Friday morning after a week-long rally, tracking cautious global trends.

The BSE Sensex dropped 290 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 81,709, while the NSE Nifty 50 fell 93 points, or 0.37 per cent, to 24,990.

The broader market showed mixed performance:

• The Nifty Midcap 100 gained 0.06 per cent, while
• The Nifty Smallcap 100 fell 0.24 per cent

Among key sectoral indices, Nifty Bank (-0.45 per cent) and Nifty IT (-0.27 per cent) were under pressure, while FMCG and metal stocks also slipped. Other indices posted minor gains.

“The headwinds for the market from US tariffs will weigh on markets, constraining the rally of the last six days. A significant trend in the market is the outperformance of large caps, which is desirable and fundamentally justified,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

He further noted, “While Nifty is up by 1 per cent during the last year, Nifty Midcap 150 is down by 0.35 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 250 is down by 4.7 per cent during the same period. This trend is fundamentally justified and likely to continue. Midcap IT is showing resilience now.”

Top Gainers and Losers

Among Nifty’s top gainers were Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, and Hindalco. The biggest loser was SBI Life Insurance, down 1.24 per cent, followed by Asian Paints, HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, and Grasim.

On the technical outlook, Amruta Shinde of Choice Equity Broking said: “A decisive move above the 25,150 level could pave the way for an upside toward 25,250 and 25,500, while immediate supports are placed at 25,000 and 24,850—levels considered attractive for fresh long positions.”

Globally, Asia-Pacific markets were mixed ahead of US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium.

Overnight, US markets closed lower: the Dow Jones fell 0.34 per cent, NASDAQ dipped 0.34 per cent, and the S&P 500 declined 0.4 per cent.

In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen indices gained 0.63 per cent and 1.24 per cent, respectively.

Japan’s Nikkei was flat, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.27 per cent, and South Korea’s KOSPI advanced 0.77 per cent.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) returned as net buyers on Thursday, purchasing Indian equities worth Rs 1,247 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued buying with net purchases of Rs 2,546 crore.

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