The domestic equity indices—Sensex and Nifty—stumbled at the opening bell and turned flat soon after amid weakness in the global markets. IT and auto stocks dragged Nifty down, while banking and oil & gas stocks cushioned the fall.
At 9.40 AM, the Sensex was down 2.5 points at 81,817 and the Nifty was up 7.9 points at 25,065. About 1,813 shares advanced, 1,102 shares declined, and 130 shares remained unchanged.
"This week, the markets may lean towards an upward trend. However, concerns remain about index heavyweights, amid this earnings season," said Nirav Karkera, Head of Research at Fisdom. In the previous session, Nifty turned weak as RIL dropped over 2 percent on softer Q2 results and the possibility of the RBI delaying rate cuts to 2025 instead of December. "However, the market had not aggressively priced in a rate cut by December, so its impact was less significant," Karkera said.
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Analysts believe that the key factor driving the market in the coming days will be earnings results rather than the timing of the rate cut, which remains uncertain.
Amongst sectoral indices, Nifty IT and FMCG fell 0.5 percent each. Infosys, TCS, and Coforge led the decline in the IT index. The IT earnings released so far—TCS and HCLTech—have been half-decent and show margin pressures, as per analysts. The demand environment isn't robust, and management guidance doesn't suggest a recovery in the near term.
Nifty FMCG snapped a three-day winning streak and fell half a percent due to selling in ITC and Nestle.
On the technical front, Hardik Matalia, Derivative Analyst at Choice Broking said that after a negative opening, Nifty can find support at 24,900 followed by 24,800 and 24,700. "On the higher side, 25,100 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 25,150 and 25,250."
The broader market outperformed the benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap rising 0.2 percent.
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On Nifty 50, M&M, Trent, and UltraTech Cement were the top losers, falling over 1 percent each. Meanwhile, HDFC Life, BPCL, and SBI Life's shares gained 1-2 percent, emerging as the top gainers on the index.
PNC Infratech shares surged nearly 5 percent after the company secured an order worth Rs 4,630 crore for two projects from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). Meanwhile, shares of BSE dropped over 5 percent after Jefferies downgraded the company to 'Underperform'.
Most Asia-Pacific markets traded lower today, mirroring losses on Wall Street, where major indices ended in the red amid a sharp selloff in chip and energy stocks.
Now, investor attention will shift to crucial US data releases, including September retail sales, industrial production figures, and weekly jobless claims, all scheduled for October 17.
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