Ganesh Kendale
Stock market today: Indian equity benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty50, opened in green on Thursday. While BSE Sensex was above 81,600, Nifty50 was below 25,000. At 9:16 AM, BSE Sensex was trading at 81,689.96, up 189 points or 0.23%. Nifty50 was at 24,973.10, up 2 points or 0.0072%.
The benchmark Nifty experienced a decline, falling below the 25,000 mark and trading sideways throughout Wednesday’s session.Market analysts attributed this consolidation to persistent selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and lackluster results from key index heavyweights.
“We expect this consolidation to continue amid mixed global cues and a lack of domestic triggers. Index-heavy weights like Infosys, Axis Bank, LTI Mindtree, Wipro, and Nestle are likely to be in focus as they announce their Q2 number on Thursday,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal
In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also ended higher, despite declines in megacap tech shares. Asian markets followed suit, with equities rising after Wall Street’s positive performance. Oil prices also saw an uptick in early Asian trade on Thursday, following an unexpected drop in U.S. crude stockpiles.
The dollar remained near an 11-week high on Thursday, supported by uncertainty surrounding the upcoming U.S. election and the resilience of the U.S. economy.
FIIs turned net sellers, offloading shares worth Rs 3,435 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 2,526 crore. The net short position of FIIs increased from Rs 1.57 lakh crore on Tuesday to Rs 1.68 lakh crore on Wednesday. Several stocks, including Chambal Fertilisers, SAIL, Hindustan Copper, and RBL Bank, are under the F&O ban period due to crossing 95% of the market-wide position limit.
