Stock markets opened flat on Tuesday with both Sensex and Nifty indices showing minor gains during early trade.
The NSE Nifty 50 index gained 40 points to 24,360 points, while BSE Sensex also surged marginally with a gain of 180 points to 80,110 when filing this report. Tuesday marks the second consecutive day when markets opened on a flat note.
“Markets are consolidating after making multiple, successive all-time highs, in the absence of any overarching trigger. This week, Fed Chair Powell’s testimony to the US Congress, US CPI, and PPI data along with the start of the earnings season will be the market moving catalysts” said Ajay Bagga, Banking and Market Expert.
In the broad market, all indices including Nifty 100, Nifty 200, Nifty Midcap, and Nifty Small Cap opened on a positive note and started trading with gains. The sectoral indices also indicated a positive trend, with all sector indices opening in green with marginal gains. The India Volatility Index (India VIX) also surged by 1.28 percent to 13.78.
“In India, corporate earnings will be the next couple of weeks’ triggers followed by the contours of the Union Budget. Range-bound markets are boring but are critical for markets to consolidate gains time-wise and then rally further price-wise. This period has to be gone through patiently. Hold 15-20 percent in cash to buy any sharp dip in the markets which is not expected but not improbable given the geopolitical risks globally” Bagga added.
The top openers of the day in the Nifty 50 list include Maruti with a gain of more than 3 percent, Cipla, Mahindra and Mahindra, Titan, and Britannia. The top losers at the opening include Shriram Finance, BPCL, Reliance, Axis Bank, and Grasim.
In the Asian markets, the Asia Dow rose 0.39 percent, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.71 percent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng marginally increased by 0.06 percent. Conversely, China’s Shanghai Composite declined by 0.93 percent.
In the commodities market, WTI crude traded at USD 72.31 (+0.11 percent), and Brent crude stood at USD 76.69 (+0.06 percent). The US Dollar Index climbed 0.09 percent to 104.97.
The US markets closed with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq reaching record highs on Monday, driven by anticipation of new economic data, comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and the upcoming earnings season.
(ANI)