Indian equity indices opened on a firm note on Friday, tracking strength in global markets and gains in banking counters, but shed early momentum to trade flat as investor sentiment turned cautious ahead of a potential trade agreement between India and the United States.
The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 67.34 points in early trade to touch 83,306.81, while the broader 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 23.55 points to 25,428.85. However, volatility soon took hold and both benchmarks pared gains, with the Sensex down 13.55 points at 83,221.65 and the Nifty slipping 4.15 points to 25,400.40.
Among the gainers in the Sensex basket were Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Bharat Electronics, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank. On the flip side, Trent, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra and Maruti registered losses.
Asian markets presented a mixed picture. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and China’s Shanghai Composite were in positive territory, whereas South Korea’s Kospi and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped. Overnight, Wall Street ended firmly in the green, buoyed by encouraging job market data, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq setting fresh records.
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, commented, “There are no triggers to break the 25,200–25,800 Nifty range immediately. Even while trading within this range the market is resilient. This resilience is supported externally by the strength of the mother market US where S&P 500 and Nasdaq are at record highs and domestically by the strong and sustained flows into the market, which has made DIIs sustained buyers in the market.”
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Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net sellers on Thursday, offloading equities worth ₹1,481.19 crore, according to provisional exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were net buyers to the tune of ₹1,333.06 crore.
Prashanth Tapse, Senior Vice-President (Research) at Mehta Equities, observed, “Yesterday saw volatile market activity, starting strong but tumbling late, notably with Nifty closing on an uncertain note. Today, US markets will be closed for Independence Day. Wall Street reacted positively to better-than-expected job reports, boosting US stocks. Nifty is poised to follow this bullish trend, potentially influenced by India’s upcoming trade deal with the US.”
On Thursday, the domestic market closed lower, with the Sensex falling by 170.22 points to settle at 83,239.47, and the Nifty declining by 48.10 points to 25,405.30.
Global crude oil benchmarks softened, with Brent Crude trading 0.42 per cent lower at USD 68.51 a barrel, offering some relief on the inflationary front.
Investors are expected to keep a watchful eye on geopolitical and trade developments in the coming days, as the market continues to oscillate within a narrow band in the absence of decisive triggers.
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