Indian share market opens lower, prepares to move into New Year with caution

Mumbai:  The domestic benchmark indices opened lower on Tuesday as selling was seen in IT, realty, auto, financial service, FMCG, media and private bank sectors on Nifty.

At around 9:25 am, Sensex was trading at 77,813.49 after declining 434.64 points or 0.56 per cent, while the Nifty was trading at 23,536 after declining 108.90 points or 0.46 per cent.

The market trend remained mixed. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,096 stocks were trading in green, while 1,040 stocks were in red.

According to market experts, “December has been weak for equity markets globally. S&P 500 is down by 2.34 per cent and Nifty is down by 2.6 per cent.”

“Markets are preparing to move into the New Year with caution since uncertainty is high and valuations are stretched,” they noted.

Nifty Bank was down 191.50 points or 0.38 per cent at 50,761.25. Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 56,944.80 after dropping 244.95 points or 0.43 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 18,618.95 after dropping 21 points or 0.11 per cent.

On the sectoral front, buying was seen in the PSU Bank, Pharma, Metal, Energy, Commodities, PSE and Healthcare sector.

In the Sensex pack, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, TCS, Infosys, Zomato and NTPC were the top losers. Whereas, Tata Motors, ITC, Tata Steel, SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Nestle India were the top gainers.

The Dow Jones declined 0.97 per cent to close at 42,573.73. The S&P 500 declined 1.07 per cent to 5,906.94 and the Nasdaq declined 1.19 per cent to close at 19,486.79 in the previous trading session.

In the Asian markets, China was trading in red while Hong Kong was trading in green.

“The high U.S. bond yield and strong dollar will ensure that FIIs will continue to sell on every rise. DII buying will not be strong enough to take the market much higher,” said experts.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 1,893.16 crore on December 30, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 2,173.86 crore on the same day.

–IANS