Indian Stock Market Declines at Open, Focus Shifts to US Fed Meeting
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Mumbai, Dec 17 (NationPress) The Indian stock market commenced in the negative territory on Tuesday as a wave of selling engulfed Nifty's PSU Bank, financial services, FMCG, and metal sectors.
At approximately 9:33 am, the Sensex was recorded at 81,548.45, reflecting a decrease of 200.12 points or 0.24 per cent, while the Nifty stood at 24,605.5 after a drop of 62.70 points or 0.25 per cent.
The overall market sentiment remained positive. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,263 stocks traded in the green, while 989 stocks fell into the red.
The Nifty Bank index saw a decline of 133.10 points or 0.25 per cent, reaching 53,448.25. The Nifty Midcap 100 index traded at 59,587.30, showing an increase of 144.25 points or 0.24 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index stood at 19,575.45 with a rise of 44.40 points or 0.23 per cent.
Within the Sensex components, Reliance, Nestle India, Bharti Airtel, JSW Steel, HDFC Bank, and Infosys were the top losers. Conversely, Tata Motors, Adani Ports, Hindustan Unilever Limited, HCL, and Tech Mahindra emerged as the top gainers.
On a global scale, markets are keenly awaiting the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday. Analysts suggest that a 25 basis point rate cut has already been priced in, thus the emphasis will be on the remarks from the Fed chair.
The robust US services PMI reading of 58.5 per cent signals a resilient economy, which bodes well for the market.
In the Asian markets, with the exception of Japan, the markets in China, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul, and Jakarta were trading lower.
In the previous trading session, US stock markets saw the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 rising by 1.24 per cent and 0.38 per cent, respectively, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.25 per cent.
On December 16, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities valued at Rs 278.70 crore in India, while domestic institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 234.25 crore on the same day.
