Sensex, Nifty open higher but turn flat as investors await US-India trade deal

Sensex and Nifty opened higher on Friday driven by gains in bank stocks and a strong US market rally but turned flat amid investor caution over the anticipated India-US trade deal. Asian markets showed mixed trends, while crude oil prices fell.

Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty inched higher in opening trade on Friday amid buying in bank stocks and a rally in the US markets, but later turned flat as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of India’s upcoming trade deal with the US.

The 30-share BSE Sensex went up by 67.34 points to 83,306.81 in opening trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty inched higher by 23.55 points to 25,428.85.

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Later, both the key indices faced volatile trends and were trading flat. The BSE benchmark quoted 13.55 points down at 83,221.65, and the Nifty traded 4.15 points lower at 25,400.40.

From the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Bharat Electronics, Hindustan Unilever, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the major gainers.

However, Trent, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra and Maruti were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai’s SSE Composite index were trading higher while South Korea’s Kospi and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng quoted lower.

The US markets ended in the positive territory on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dropped 0.42 per cent to USD 68.51 a barrel.

“There are no triggers to break the 25,200-25,800 Nifty range immediately. Even while trading within this range the market is resilient. This resilience is supported externally by the strength of the mother market US where S&P 500 and Nasdaq are at record highs and domestically by the strong and sustained flows into the market, which has made DIIs (Domestic Institutional Investors) sustained buyers in the market,” VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments, said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,481.19 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data. DIIs bought stocks worth Rs 1,333.06 crore.

“Yesterday saw volatile market activity, starting strong but tumbling late, notably with Nifty closing on an uncertain note. Today, US markets will be closed for Independence Day. Wall Street reacted positively to better-than-expected job reports, boosting US stocks. Nifty is poised to follow this bullish trend, potentially influenced by India’s upcoming trade deal with the US,” Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

On Thursday, the Sensex dropped by 170.22 points or 0.20 per cent to settle at 83,239.47. The Nifty declined by 48.10 points or 0.19 per cent to 25,405.30.