FIRST TRADE: Sensex slips over 500 pts, Nifty below 22,150 amid geopolitical tensions; TCS, Infosys down over 1%

Stock market today: The Indian share market opened lower tracking Asian peers, as expectations of likely delay in U.S. rate cuts added to investor concerns already weighed by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

Last seen, S&P BSE Sensex was down 488.61 points or 0.67 per cent at 72,911.17 and NSE Nifty slipped 132.97 points or 0.60 per cent at 22,139.55. 

"Two issues- one economic and the other geopolitical- will continue to weigh on markets in the near term.  The economic factor is the rising US bond yields (10-year yield is above 4.6 per cent ) which reduces the prospects of rate cuts by the Fed this year. High bond yields are negative for risky assets like equity and will accelerate FII selling in emerging markets like India," said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar added investors may wait and watch the developments. Meanwhile, long-term investors can slowly accumulate high-quality large-caps on corrections. Further corrections will make valuations of large caps fair. Largecaps in banking, IT, autos, capital goods, oil & gas and cement are ideal for long-term investment. Since metal prices are firming up, metal stocks will remain resilient.

Meanwhile, Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 traded lower mirroring the losses of the headline indices. Nifty Bank was down 0.90 per cent at 47,344.07. 

BUZZING STOCKS

Jio Financial Services shares were up over 3 per cent after 50:50 Joint Venture (JV) agreement with BlackRock. 

Happy Forgings shares were up over 4 per cent after the company received an order worth Rs 500 crore from a global manufacturer. 

VST Industries shares were up nearly 2 per cent after block deals.

Marksans Pharma shares were up over 3 per cent after MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY bought 66 lakh shares.

Bharti Hexacom shares were up over 3 per cent after Jefferies initiated 'buy'. 

GLOBAL MARKETS 

Stocks fell and the dollar climbed to more than five-month highs on Tuesday as stronger-than-expected U.S. retail sales for March further reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to be in a rush to cut interest rates this year.

Rising geopolitical tensions kept risk sentiment in check, lifting prices of gold and oil, while investor focus in Asia turns to China with GDP data due at 0200 GMT.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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