Stock market today: Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, the Indian equity benchmark indices, opened in red on Thursday. While Nifty50 went below 25,750, BSE Sensex was down over 150 points. At 9:16 AM, Nifty50 was trading at 25,723.25, down 53 points or 0.20%. BSE Sensex was at 83,666.28, down 151 points or 0.18%.Stock market analysts expect domestic equities to hold a positive bias, supported by recent trade deals with the US and the European Union, budget-related announcements and ongoing third-quarter earnings.Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited says, “There are a few near-term market trends that are significant. The Nifty appears to be in a consolidation phase without big moves at the index level. However, there are big changes within the Nifty stocks with big declines in IT stocks consequent to the IT sell off in the US spreading to India, too. The sell off has been triggered by Anthropic’s new automation tools that the market fears may replace IT services that are currently outsourced. The market fears significant margin pressure for Indian IT companies. What the real impact will be remains to be seen.”“In contrast to the weakness in IT stocks, the large domestic consumption-driven segments are doing well and this is reflected in the resilience of leaders like RIL, Bharti, the banking majors and some auto stocks. After the growth-oriented Budget and trade deals with the EU and US, India’s growth will remain strong facilitating strong domestic consumption. The low-interest rate regime continues to support the growth of the auto sector and is likely to spill over into segments like air conditioners as summer approaches. Therefore, the strong domestic consumption story is likely to sustain the resilience of the domestic consumption-driven stocks. If the cessation of selling and marginal buying by FIIs becomes a trend, the market will gain strength. This is the data point to watch for.”Investor activity reflected the cautious mood, with foreign portfolio investors marginally net buying equities worth Rs 30 crore during the session. Domestic institutional investors also stayed on the buying side, purchasing shares worth Rs 240 crore, according to exchange data.Global cues were mixed, with US stocks ending lower overnight. Wall Street was weighed down by losses in technology counters such as Advanced Micro Devices and Palantir, as concerns grew over elevated valuations and doubts emerged about the sustainability of the AI-led rally. Alphabet shares slipped nearly 2 per cent ahead of its quarterly earnings announcement, though the stock recovered around 2 per cent in after-hours trading after the company signaled a sharp increase in spending to strengthen its position in artificial intelligence.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market, other asset classes or personal finance management tips given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)
