Stock market selling again; Sensex slips 377 points, Nifty below 24400
New Delhi| Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty opened with a decline on Thursday after registering gains in the last session over Republican Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential race. Investors are now turning their attention to the Federal Reserve’s upcoming rate decision meeting to estimate interest rates. On Thursday morning, BSE Sensex was seen trading at 79,975, down 402 points or 0.50%. At the same time, Nifty 50 was trading at 24,359, down 125 points or 0.51%.
Earlier, both the Nifty and BSE Sensex rose 1.1% on Wednesday, the biggest one-day rise in more than six weeks since Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election. Other Asian markets also gained momentum, while all three major Wall Street indices hit record highs overnight. Markets reacted positively to the clarity of the US election results.
ICICI Bank, Nestle India and M&M opened with gains, while Tata Steel, TCS, HCL Tech and JSW Steel opened with gains. Tata Steel jumped 2% in the quarter ended September 2024 against the losses recorded in the previous year’s period.
Meanwhile, Apollo Hospitals shares jumped 6%, hitting their all-time high as the company reported a 63% increase in net profit at Q2FY25 led by its hospital business to Rs 379 crore. Sector-wise, Nifty Metal fell 1.3%, due to falling shares of Hindalco, Adani Enterprises and Vedanta. Nifty Bank, Auto, Financial Services, Pharma and Consumer Durables also opened with cuts.
While the election results could accelerate the market for a few sessions, analysts said the future direction of domestic equities will depend on the next US government policy framework and the Federal Reserve’s remarks on Thursday. The U.S. Fed cut the rate by 50 basis points at its last meeting and expects a 25 basis point cut in rates Thursday.
