The two major equity benchmark indices opened lower on Thursday, with the Nifty hovering around 24,300 amid weak global cues. This decline reflects concerns in international markets, which are influencing investor sentiment domestically. At 10 am, the Sensex was down by 202.15 points, or 0.25 per cent, at 79,740.03. Meanwhile, the Nifty fell by 47.80 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 24,293.00. 

Overall market activity showed 2,239 shares advanced, while 786 shares declined, and 103 shares remained unchanged.

In the previous trading session on Wednesday, Sensex and Nifty closed in negative territory after starting the day lower. The BSE Sensex finished the session at 79,942.18, dropping over 400 points, while the NSE Nifty50 ended at 24,340.85, down by 126 points.

The rupee opened flat on Thursday, gaining 1 paisa to reach 84.07 against the US dollar in early trading. This slight rise comes amid a strong dollar and ongoing foreign fund outflows, which have affected investor sentiment. Forex traders noted that the rupee remained range-bound as month-end demand sustained strong interest in the US dollar.

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “This Diwali it is unlikely to see fireworks in the market. India has been underperforming in October with Nifty down 5.7 per cent when markets in US and Japan have delivered positive returns and China and Hong Kong have hugely outperformed. India’s underperformance is driven by lofty valuations, relentless FII selling and concerns over slowing earnings growth. In the near-term, this scenario is unlikely to change, reversing the trend decisively, even though mild pullbacks are possible.”

“A significant trend in the market is the strong stock-specific action. Better-than-expected results are responded with sharp moves up to 20 per cent a day while worse-than-expected results are met with around 15 per cent correction. This trend of strongly rewarding good results and punishing poor results equally strongly is a reflection of the focus on stock-specific action rather than focus on the benchmark indices and market as a whole,” he added.

This year, Diwali 2024 Muhurat trading is scheduled for November 1, 2024. In the meantime, the stock market will operate as usual today.