Indian benchmark indices opened slightly higher on Thursday, supported by gains in financial and banking stocks, following a sharp decline over the previous two sessions. At 10:10 am, the Sensex was up 235.84 points, or 0.30 per cent, at 77,926.79, while the Nifty gained 75.30 points, reaching 23,634.30. The market breadth was positive, with 2,189 shares advancing, 914 declining, and 89 remaining unchanged.
Market experts expect a temporary pullback but caution that the downward trend may continue in the near term due to persistent unfavourable fundamentals. Sentiment has shifted from "buy the dip" to "sell on the rise," with the recent 10 per cent decline from the market highs being viewed as a technical correction.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI, JSW Steel, and Bank were top gainers. Conversely, HUL, Maruti, ITC, M&M and Nestle emerged among the losers.
V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, noted that counter-moves are inevitable during a market correction, such as the one currently underway, and can help facilitate a potential bounce-back.
"This can happen any time now. The huge liquidity at the disposal of the DIIs can trigger this bounce back. But such a bounce back is unlikely to sustain since the fundamental factors are unfavourable. The Trump factor has triggered many profound changes in markets already. The dollar index is strong and rising and is currently at 106.61. The US 10-year bond yield is at 4.48 per cent. These two are strong headwinds for equity markets in emerging economies like India. The positive factor is the huge liquidity at the disposal of the DIIs and the sustained flows into these funds. Domestically, the worry is the disappointing Q2 results and the consensus earnings downgrade," he added.
Meanwhile, broader market indices also saw some relief, with the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices climbing by up to 1 per cent on Thursday. Sector-wise, all indices, except the Nifty FMCG, were in the green. The Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Realty indices were the top performers during this period.
