Sensex tumbles over 100 points, Nifty slides below 24,000
The BSE Sensex gave up early gains to trade 178.11 points, or 0.22%, lower at 79,045.00. The Nifty50 was 85.50 points, or 0.36% lower, trading at 23,919.25 around 9:48 am.
Shares of Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv rose nearly 2% after Bajaj Finance reported a 28% YoY increase in assets under management (AUM) to Rs 3,98,000 crore for Q3 FY25. The company also set a record with 12.06 million new loans booked, up 22% YoY.
Meanwhile, the December-quarter results season, beginning with Tata Consultancy Services on Jan. 9, is expected to provide clear direction for the benchmark indices in the near term.
On the sectoral front, Nifty IT surged nearly 1%, and Nifty Consumer Durables rose 0.7%. On the other hand, Nifty Bank, FMCG, Metal, PSU Bank, and Oil & Gas sectors opened 0.5% to 2% lower.
Among individual stocks, NTPC Green jumped nearly 4% in early trade after the company announced a joint venture (JV) with Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam, a wholly owned state thermal power utility.Experts View
“The market is likely to be influenced by the negative factors impacting FII flows and some positive domestic factors which can support the market. The external macro construct continues to be unfavourable with the dollar index at 109 and the 10-year US bond yield at 4.62%. The FIIs are likely to continue selling till the yields decline and the dollar stabilises,” said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
“Domestically the December auto numbers indicate that the much talked about urban demand deceleration is exaggerated. Buying will resume in these resilient domestic segments, supporting the market on declines,” Vijayakumar added.
Hardik Matalia of Choice Broking, said, “After a positive opening, Nifty can find support at 23,950 followed by 23,850 and 23,800. On the higher side, 24,150 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 24,250 and 24,350.”
Global Markets
Share markets got off to a patchy start in Asia on Monday ahead of a week brimming with economic news that should underline the relative outperformance of the United States and support the dollar’s ongoing bull run.
Japan’s Nikkei returned from holiday to drop 1.1%, pressured in part by a rise in JGB yields to the highest since 2011. South Korean stocks rallied 1.1%, though the fate of President Yoon Suk Yeol seems no clearer.
EUROSTOXX 50 futures and DAX futures edged up 0.1%, while FTSE futures were flat. Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were both down 0.1% in light volumes.
FII/DII Tracker
The Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 4,227 crore on January 3, while domestic institutional bought equities worth Rs 820 crore on the same day.
Crude Oil
Oil prices hovered at their highest since October on Monday as investors eyed the impact on global fuel demand from colder weather in the Northern Hemisphere and Beijing’s economic stimulus measures.
Brent crude futures rose 15 cents, or 0.2%, to $76.66 a barrel by 0125 GMT after settling on Friday at its highest since Oct. 14. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 22 cents, or 0.3%, at $74.18 a barrel after closing on Friday at its highest since Oct. 11.
Currency Watch
The Indian rupee rose 1 paisa to 85.78 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 0.06% to 108.88 level.
(With inputs from agencies)
