Domestic benchmarks Sensex and Nifty opened lower on Tuesday, a day after hitting fresh record highs, as a weakening rupee pulled the markets off their peak levels.
At 9:17 am, the BSE Sensex slipped 176.60 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 85,465.30 after losing nearly 380 points in early trade. The NSE Nifty50 was down 53.70 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 26,122.05, after briefly touching a low of 26,077.45.
Among Sensex constituents, HDFC Bank led losers, falling 1.32 per cent to Rs 989.30. ICICI Bank slipped 0.83 per cent, while Eternal, Axis Bank, and Tata Steel dropped 0.61 per cent, 0.30 per cent, and 0.30 per cent, respectively.
Wall Street ended lower overnight, with all three major US indices closing in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.90 per cent to 47,289.33, while the S&P 500 declined 0.53 per cent to 6,812.63. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also fell, shedding 0.38 per cent to finish at 23,275.92.
Asian markets traded higher on Tuesday. At last check, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.40 per cent to 49,499.06, while South Korea’s KOSPI jumped 1.64 per cent to 3,984.74. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also inched up 0.37 per cent to 26,128.91.
On Monday, Indian benchmark indices slipped marginally after briefly scaling fresh record highs. The Sensex eased 64.77 points, or 0.08 per cent, to close at 85,641.90, while the Nifty declined 27.20 points, or 0.10 per cent, to finish at 26,175.75.
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said the market seems to be consolidating near its recently scaled record levels, setting the stage for a potential breakout to fresh highs. “There is fundamental support for newer highs as reflected in the robust GDP numbers and the leading indicators like auto sales in November,” he said.
Vijayakumar said the persistent weakness in the rupee remains a dampener, weighing on FII inflows. He noted that a fair trade agreement between India and the US could help stabilise the currency, but progress on the deal has been stalled for far too long.
“Investors can use the current period of consolidation to slowly accumulate fairly-valued largecaps and growth-oriented midcaps which will lead the next leg of rally in the market. The Smallcap segment continues to be over-valued. The Bank Nifty, despite the recent run up, have the potential to impart resilience to the market since there is valuation comfort in this segment. The pick up in credit growth is another positive for the segment,” Vijayakumar added.
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