Indian stock market opens flat; buying seen in IT stocks

Mumbai (The Uttam Hindu): The Indian stock market opened flat on Wednesday amid mixed global cues. At 9:28 a.m., the Sensex was up by 29 points at 84,702, while the Nifty gained 2 points to trade at 25,911. Some market segments showed strong momentum in early trade, with the Nifty IT Index rising 1.11 percent. Auto, metal, and services sectors were also in the green.

On the other hand, PSU banks, financial services, pharma, FMCG, realty, energy, infrastructure, and commodities indices were trading in the red. Large-cap and small-cap stocks saw mixed movement. The Nifty Midcap 100 Index gained 50 points (0.08%) to 60,872, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 slipped 31 points to 18,123.

Among Sensex stocks, Infosys, HUL, TCS, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, and UltraTech Cement were the top gainers. Meanwhile, HDFC Bank, BEL, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, ITC, Bajaj Finserv, L&T, Asian Paints, Eicher Motors, and Axis Bank were trading lower.

Market experts believe that in the absence of any major trigger, the Indian stock market may continue to trade within a limited range in the coming days. They suggest that investors should buy selectively during dips and avoid large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks that are trading at high valuations.

Global markets were also showing mixed trends. Tokyo and Jakarta were in the green, while Seoul, Hong Kong, and Shanghai were trading lower. Crude oil prices remained weak, with WTI crude down 0.36% at $60.45 per barrel and Brent crude down 0.35% at $64.66 per barrel.