FIRST TRADE: Nifty falls below 24,000; Sensex down 720 points

Indian equities mirroring overnight plunge in the US markets after the Federal Reserve announced a 25 bps policy rate cut opened weak. At the start, Nifty fell 0.86 per cent or 209.05 points to 23,989.8, while the BSE 30-share index Sensex plunged 0.90 per cent or 719.73 points to 79,462.47.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, "When valuations are high the market needs only a trigger to correct sharply. This trigger was provided by the Fed guidance of fewer rate cuts in 2025, which went against market expectations. Even though the  rate cut of 25 bp was in tune with the market’s expectation, the indication of only two cuts of 25 bp each in 2025 against market expectation of three or even four cuts spooked the market resulting in a sharp sell-off in Wall Street."

Nifty faces pressure with support seen at its 200-DMA (23,816) due to factors like India's slowing growth, FIIs selling Rs 8,005.40 crore in the last three sessions, China's planned budget deficit increase, and concerns about potential tariffs from Trump, noted Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities.

Technical view

Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research, Axis Securities said, "The Nifty is slated to open very weak, given the trends across Asia and the slump in US stocks thanks to the Fed cutting rates by a quarter percent but turning more hawkish."

24,000 is important support but should we gap down below it, the next critical level lies at the November 28 trough of 23873. Anything under this and the bullish head-and-shoulders pattern with a target of 25500 will have failed and the 23,300 lows will become vulnerable again. Immediate resistance lies at 24500. Options data also shows that the range of movement has shifted lower as call sellers have begun shorting strikes closer to the current price, in a more aggressive bearish stance, he added.

Asian markets

Asian stocks fell sharply on Thursday as the Federal Reserve projected a slower pace of interest rate cuts in 2025. The key MSCI Asia ex Japan index was down by around 2 per cent at the last count.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down over 1 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei and Singapore's Straits Times was down up to 0.8 per cent.