Opening Bell: Benchmark Indices open flat; FMCG, consumer durable stocks gain

Amid neutral global cues, the Indian market opened flat on Monday. The broader Nifty50 opened around 15, 600 and the Sensex near 55,600.  

In the broader market, outperforming benchmarks, Nifty midcap and small cap rose 0.4% and 0.7% respectively 

Sector-wise, Nifty consumer durable gained most, while financial stocks witnessed some selling pressure even as all other indices were trading in green.

"A clear trend is unlikely to emerge in the market in the near-term. At lower levels DIIs and retail investors will buy, pushing the market up; at higher levels FPIs will sell, pushing the market down," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, on the current trend. 

The dominant factor determining the market trend, globally, will be inflation and how far central banks, particularly the Fed, will go in hiking rates to contain inflation, he said.

India's GDP growth for FY22 has come at 8.7% and the growth rate for FY23 is likely to be around 7. 2 % ( RBI estimates) making India the fastest growing large economy in the world for two years consecutively now, said the expert.

He said India has the potential to sustain this growth momentum for many more years, translating into impressive earnings growth.

"This partly explains the premium stock valuations in India. Investors can follow a cautious investment strategy in this uncertain context, buying high quality stocks which will benefit from growth recovery. Leading financials, IT, cement, telecom and segments of autos appear sound investment bets," the expert added. 

Meanwhile, in the pre-open, the Sensex was trading marginally lower by 25 points as 18 stocks advanced, 11 declined and one remained neutral on the 30-share Index.  

Earlier, Asian markets were trading mixed with most of the indices in the red. Minutes before domestic stock market opening, SGX Nifty Futures slumped 130 points on the Singaporean exchange on Tuesday.  

Similarly, Japanese Nikkei 225 traded higher by around half per cent, while Hang Seng Index at Hong Kong exchange and Chinese Shanghai Composite decline 0.6% and 0.10% respectively.  

Earlier, on Tuesday, the US markets ended lower as Dow Jones slipped almost 0.7 per cent, S&P 500 declined 0.6 per cent and Nasdaq settled with 0.4 per cent cut.