FIRST TRADE: Indices open weak; Sensex down 156 points, Nifty opens below 24,400 levels

FIRST TRADE: Indian equities tracking mixed Asian markets started Wednesday's session. At the open, Nifty was down 0.29 per cent or 70.65 points at 24,396.2, while the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 0.19 per cent or 156.44 points at 80,212.59.

Meanwhile, broader markets in a choppy trade, outperformed the headline indices, with the Nifty Smallcap 100 index up 0.56 per cent at the last count.

Sectorally it was a sea of red, with only Auto, FMCG and Media indices trading with mild gains. Conversely, the decline was led by consumer durables and pharma indices trading with a cut of over 1 per cent each, followed by losses in oil & gas and financial services stocks. In yesterday’s session, Nifty and banking stocks made a solid comeback, with the advance-decline ratio favouring the bulls at 3:2. 

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, "In the near term the market will be influenced by two factors - one positive and the other negative. The positive is the sharp decline in FII selling to just Rs 548 crores yesterday. This is an indication that the FII tactical trade of ‘Sell India, Buy China’ is coming to an end. With more DII and retail money coming to the market and FII selling tapering off, the market may get a near-term boost, aided by the festive mood.

But the uptrend is unlikely to sustain since the Q2 earnings numbers indicate softness in earnings for FY25. The consensus earnings estimates are likely to be revised down by most brokerages. With Nifty now trading at about 24 times FY25 estimated earnings, there is no valuation comfort in the market. This negative factor will cap the rally driven by domestic money, he added.

Going ahead, Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities believes the market sentiment is expected to remain positive, buoyed by key drivers such as short covering ahead of the October F&O expiry, value buying, easing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, a sharp drop in oil prices below $67.50, and strong Q2 results from PSU banks like SBI, ICICI Bank, and Bandhan Bank. 

Stocks in action

Maruti Suzuki:

Shares of the leading auto maker showed resilience after previous day's steep losses post Q2 results. At the last count, shares traded higher by over 2 per cent at Rs 11,304.5

L&T: 

Ahead of its results later today, shares of the infra major traded in the green with mild gains of 0.17 per cent at Rs 3,386.55 per share.

Marico:

Shares of the FMCG major traded higher by over 7 per cent  at Rs 675.65 after the company's strong outlook