Mid-Day Mood: Indices near day's low amid Middle East uncertainty; Nifty below 19,100

Investors may opt for a cautious approach to the market till some clarity emerges on the geopolitical situation, said market analysts.

The benchmark Indian indices were trading near day's low in afternoon deals on October 25 with the uncertainties arising out of the Israel-Hamas conflict continuing to weigh on the markets. The broader markets also turned negative after strong gains at the day's open.

At 13:14 hrs IST, the Sensex was down 588.48 points or 0.91 percent at 63,983.40, and the Nifty was down 183.00 points or 0.95 percent at 19,098.80. About 772 shares advanced, 2361 declined, and 102 were unchanged.

Factors pulling indices down

Markets are fragile due to heightened global economic uncertainty, and the "geopolitical situation" in the Middle East. Investors are cautious as these factors have the potential to influence market sentiment.

"Investors may opt for a cautious approach to the market till some clarity emerges on the geopolitical situation. An important feature of the near-term market is the weakness of the broader market," said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, the monthly derivates end on October 26 (Thursday) and this monthly F&O expiry is also prompting volatility in the markets, according to analysts.

“This week is a holiday-shortened one and we expect volatility to remain high due to the prevailing earnings season and scheduled expiry of October month derivatives contracts," said Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research at Religare Broking Ltd.

Safety in large-caps

"Since the valuations in the mid- and small-cap space is higher than that of large-caps, this weakness is likely to persist. Safety is now in large-caps particularly in banking majors which are fairly valued."

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Investors may opt for a cautious approach to the market till some clarity emerges on the geopolitical situation, said market analysts.

Sectors and stocks

Shares of Mahindra Logistics Limited tanked over 5 percent after the company reported a net loss of Rs 15 crore for the quarter ended September. Since the start of the year, the stock has tanked almost 27 percent.

Shares of Kewal Kiran Clothing Ltd rallied over 10 percent on the back of better-than-expected earnings for the September quarter. Its net sales grew around 16 percent on-year to Rs 262.48 crore, and net profit jumped 27 percent to Rs 49.80 crore.

Gensol Engineering shares rallied 5 percent as the company bagged an order worth Rs 301.5 crore from Maharashtra State Power Generation Co. Ltd. (Mahagenco).

Sectorally, Nifty Energy, Nifty FMCG, Nifty Infra, Nifty IT, Nifty Pharma were trading with losses, while Nifty Auto, Nifty Bank, Nifty Metal and Nifty PSU Bank indices were trading higher.

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