Weak global cues drag Indian stock market lower at opening

Mumbai (The Uttam Hindu): Due to weak global cues, the Indian stock market opened lower on Friday. At 9:20 AM, the Sensex slipped 153.59 points (0.18%) to 85,479, and the Nifty fell 47.55 points (0.18%) to 26,144.20. Along with large-caps, mid-cap and small-cap stocks also declined. The Nifty Midcap 100 dropped 177.95 points (0.29%) to 60,785.60, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 fell 65.10 points (0.36%) to 18,002.15. Most sectoral indices were trading in the red in early hours, with major losses in realty, commodities, defence, FMCG, and PSU banks. Only auto and IT indices held in the green.

In the Sensex pack, gainers included M&M, TCS, Asian Paints, NTPC, L&T, Sun Pharma, Maruti Suzuki, Titan, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles. Losers were Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Zomato (Eternal), Power Grid, HDFC Bank, BEL, SBI, Trent, HCL Tech, ITC, and Bharti Airtel. Global markets were also trading lower, with Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Jakarta, and Seoul all in the red. U.S. stock markets had also closed negative on Thursday.

Market experts said concerns over the valuation of AI stocks are weighing on global sentiment, increasing volatility. They advised Indian investors to remain cautious about the valuations of recently listed companies and to invest only in stocks that are fairly priced.

Crude oil also remained weak. WTI crude fell 1.46% to USD 58.11 per barrel, while Brent crude dropped 1.36% to USD 62.52 per barrel. On 20 November, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying for the second straight session, making a net investment of ₹283 crore, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) invested ₹824 crore.