The BSE Sensex was down 410 points, or 0.5%, at 82,086, while the Nifty50 slipped over 14o points, or 0.56%, to 25,094 as of 9:32 am.
In the Sensex pack, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, L&T, and Asian Paints were the top contributors pulling the index down, while TCS, HCL Tech, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, and Tech Mahindra opened higher.
Investors may remained cautious amid concerns over the escalation of the Middle East conflict and continued foreign outflows from domestic equities.
Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israel earlier in the week, stoking fears that crude supplies from the world’s top oil-producing region may be threatened if the conflict intensifies. Oil prices climbed while global stocks edged lower.
On the sectoral front, Nifty Realty dropped 3.5% in early trade, weighed down by Phoenix Mills, Lodha, Prestige, and DLF. Nifty Auto, Media, Metal, PSU Bank, Consumer Durables, and Oil & Gas sectors also opened 1-2% lower.Among individual stocks, DMart shares declined 4.4% in early trade after brokerages provided mixed outlooks on the supermarket chain’s Q2FY25 business update.Experts View
“The sharp correction of 2.1% in the Nifty yesterday was more due to the massive FII selling rather than fears of Middle East tensions escalating. The last three days have witnessed huge FII selling of Rs 30614 crores in the cash market. FIIs are moving money from expensive India to cheap Hong Kong on expectations that the monetary and fiscal stimulus being implemented by the Chinese authorities will stimulate the Chinese economy and improve earnings of Chinese companies,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
“The market direction in the near-term will be influenced by the tug-of-war going on between the FIIs and DIIs. The present reality is that DIIs have deeper pockets than FIIs and they have greater conviction to buy the India Growth Story,” Vijayakumar added.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said, “Short term trend has turned bearish in the Nifty. Next support for the Index is seen near 25070, where 50 days EMA is placed. Resistance for the Index has shifted down to 25400-25500 band.”
Global Markets
Asian stocks retreated on Friday while oil prices headed for their sharpest weekly gain in more than a year, as escalating tensions in the Middle East kept markets on edge ahead of a US jobs report later in the day.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.32% and was set to end the week little changed. Japan’s Nikkei also reversed early gains to last trade 0.08% lower. It was headed for a weekly loss of more than 3%.
S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures eased 0.03% each, while EUROSTOXX 50 futures were flat.
FII/DII Tracker
The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 15,243 crore on October 3, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 12,914 crore on the same day.
Crude Oil
Oil prices inched up in early Asian trading hours on Friday, holding on to their strong weekly gains, as investors weighed the Middle East conflict and the potential disruption in crude flows against an amply-supplied global market.
Brent crude futures were up 9 cents, or 0.12%, to $77.71 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 8 cents, or 0.11%, to $73.79 a barrel. Both benchmarks were on track for weekly gains of about 8%.
Currency Watch
The Indian rupee turned flat at 83.96 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, declined 0.03% to 101.9 level.
(With inputs from agencies)
