Indian Stock Market Opens Flat, Axis Bank and ITC Lead Gains
The Indian stock market opened flat today with mixed trends as investors resorted to buying across several sectors, including auto, IT, financial services and PSU banks.
The leading index, Sensex, 80,139.30 was opening with an increase of 74.14 points or 0.09 percent, while Nifty opened at 24,418.05 with a gain of 18.65 points or 0.08 percent, and Axis bank and ITC emerged as top gainers in the index at NSE but significantly contributing to the market performance today.
The S&P BSE Sensex was up by around 159 points during the day, as in the Sensex pack, ITC, Axis Bank, Asian Paints, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma, Nestle India, and ICICI Bank emerged as the leading gainers. With this, the top losers were IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, and L&T.
On the Nifty, the big gainers were ITC, Axis Bank, HCL Tech, Britannia, Asian Paints, Nestle India, and Sun Pharma. The day belonged to slumdog millionaires of Dalal Street with IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Coal India, Shriram Finance, and Mahindra & Mahindra going in red.
Mixed was the overall market sentiment. On NSE, it traded in the green for 890 and in the red for 1,084. The Nifty Bank index at 51,440.40 registered a decline of 90.75 points or 0.18 percent. The Nifty Midcap 100 index is quoted at 56,216.90 registering a decline of 132.85 points or 0.24 percent, while Nifty Small Cap 100 index traded higher by 43.20 points or 0.24 percent at 18,292.35.
In Asian markets, indices for Bangkok, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Jakarta, and Seoul rose while Tokyo declined. The New York and the Dow industrials ended with red marks in the last trading session of the week.
The selling by FIIs has been so heavy that market experts have noticed it. They have sold Rs 98,085 crore so far in October. It has never happened before and makes the market sentiment cautious. The strategy of buying at dips has lost its effectiveness. However, inflows into mutual funds help DIIs absorb some of the heavy selling by FIIs. FIIs on October 24 sold equities worth Rs 5,062 crore and DIIs bought shares worth Rs 3,620 crore.
