Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], December 6 : Indian stock markets on Friday opened flat amid mixed global cues and Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) policy expectations.
The Nifty 50 at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened in red territory at 24,729.45, down over 12.25 points, and the BSE Sensex at 81,887.54, up about 100 points.
In the opening trading session at NSE, the stocks of Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motor, Trent, ITC, and Hero Motocorp were the major gainers, while TCS, Wipro, LT, Tata Motors, and Ultra Cement constituted the major losers. On sectoral indices at NSE, Bank, IT, Media, Realty, midsmall healthcare opened in the red, leaving others in the green territory.
In the Nifty 50 list, 27 stocks opened with gains, while 23 stocks declined at the time of filing this report.
The stock markets will be keenly watching the policy rate announcements by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) later today for the cues.
The markets have been climbing for the last five days as the buying from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) has started, coupled with the strong US markets.
"Christmas has come early to Indian markets. Two key events are facing the markets today. The first is the RBI MPC meeting outcome. The second is the US November payroll data this evening. The return of FPIs to the Indian markets has gained momentum this week, and we expect it to continue into the Union Budget on Feb 1st," said Ajay Bagga, market and banking expert.
Bagga added "US exceptionalism on the economic front and on the 56 times "All Time High" hitting the US stock market this year is expected to continue at least for the first two quarters of the next year. However, as institutional investors look for diversification, India has a chance to attract FPI flows provided we deliver earnings growth,".
Observing the markets on technical charts, Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research, Axis Securities, said a key resistance area lies between 24800 and 24850 and higher around 24965. A support lies near 24360, a level that was formerly critical resistance.
"Looking at the last 20 years of data, the period from now till year-end has seen the nifty advance 75% of the time, with average and median returns of 1.7 per cent and 2.4 per cent, respectively," Hinchalkar added.
Experts noted that with the MPC meeting underway in Mumbai, the markets are closely watching it. However, rate cut expectations are very low. If the RBI changes its stance amid a weakening economy, the markets will likely react to it.
On the global front, the Asian markets were mixed, following losses on Wall Street, while US markets ended lower, with the Dow Jones falling 248.33 points (-0.55 percent). OPEC countries, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed to extend oil supply cuts through March 2025.
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