First Trade: Indices open lower for 3rd straight session; Nifty down 75 pts at 24,675, Sensex falls 247 points

Indian equities in Friday's session continued its losing streak and opened lower for the third session. At the open, Nifty was down 0.3 per cent or 75 points at 24,675.3, while Sensex opened lower by 0.31 per cent or 247.39 points at 80,759.22.

Sectorally, FMCG and private bank indices traded in the green, while all others succumbed to losses, with IT pack leading the weakness- down over 1 per cent.

From the Nifty IT pack, out of 10 stocks only 3 traded with gains of up to 3 per cent with Wipro gaining as much as 3 per cent at the last count.

Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities said, "Nifty has faced a steep three-day decline, dropping from 26,277.35 to 24,694, with technical signals indicating a Head & Shoulders pattern. A recovery might be tough due to muted Q2 earnings expectations, significant FII outflows of over Rs 74,700 crore in October, and looming Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections."

On the stock front, Wipro surged with a 21 per cent profit rise and a 1:1 bonus share issue, Infosys missed estimates but raised revenue guidance, Nestlé dropped 3.44 per cent on mixed results, and Bajaj Auto plunged 13 per cent on weak festival sales and a 31.4% profit drop. 

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, "The 6 per cent correction in Nifty from the peak has made India an under-performer with only 13.83 per cent return YTD in contrast to the 23.16 per cent return in S&P 500 YTD. The Hang Seng index with 23.16% return YTD has been the best-performing market in recent weeks assisted by massive buying by FIIs."

The high valuations in India has been the main trigger for the sustained selling by FIIs, and recent developments like consensus downward revision of FY25 earnings estimates to below 10% and Bajaj Auto’s concerns regarding weak demand during the festive season dampened the sentiments resulting in big selling in auto stocks, said Vijaykumar.

Meanwhile, Asian markets traded on a positive note with Hang Seng leading with gains of 0.64 per cent. The positive momentum was seen after China's GDP met expectations.