Opening Bell: Nifty above 17,400, Sensex gains 30 points amid muted global cues; PSU Bank declines most

Tracking Asian market, which were trading flat to negative, the Indian market opened flat on Monday. The broader Nifty 50 opened above 17,400 and the Sensex gained around 30 points ahead of stock market holiday on Tuesday. The stock market (NSE and BSE) will remain closed on August 9, 2022, on account of Muharram Holiday. The benchmarks opened at 17,401.50 and 58,417.71 respectively. 

In the broader market, following barometer indices, Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices opened flat with marginal gains or cuts.  

On the sectoral front, Nifty PSU Bank declined by over one per cent, while Consumer Durables gained the most by trading higher by 0.8% in the opening trade on Monday.  

Earlier, in the pre-open, the Sensex was trading flat with 10 points gain to 58,398.36 as 19 stocks advanced and 11 declined on the 30-share index.  

"A paradox in the economy-market connect is that good news on the economy can turn out to be bad news for markets. This is playing out now. The July US jobs data came in at a robust 580000 against the poll of 250000. This indicates a strong economy nowhere near recession," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, on the current market trends.  

This means the Fed might hike rates by another 75 bp in September to cool the economy to contain inflation, he pointed out.  

Therefore, there can be a near-term strengthening of the dollar. It remains to be seen how FIIs will react to this, said the expert. 

Vijaykumar said that growth impulses in India are strong. Leading indicators like bank credit growth, capacity utilization in manufacturing, automobile demand etc suggest an economy in strong rebound, he said. 

"Financials, capital goods and construction are on a strong wicket. Pharma and FMCG are stable. Robust jobs data in the US bodes well for the IT sector," he added. 

Earlier, SGX Nifty, which hints at opening trend of the Indian market, was trading lower by around 50 points in early trade on the Singaporean exchange on Monday.  

Likewise, Japanese Nikkei 225 fell marginally by 0.10%, Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchange dropped nearly 0.8% and Chinese Shanghai Composite was seen trading flat on Monday morning.  

The US market had closed on a mixed note on Friday. The US benchmarks Dow Jones gained 76 points, while Nasdaq declined 63 points and S&P500 ended marginally lower by 6.75 points on Friday.