Domestic benchmark indices opened on a muted note on Wednesday, tracking the weaker closing of US indices during the overnight trade. However, gains in the Asian peers capped the cuts.
Traders awaited the minutes of the US Fed, scheduled on Thursday amid the China opening up after Covid-19 crisis. Selling by global investors kept investors off the guard.
The 30-share pack BSE Sensex was trading about 45 points or 0.07 per cent lower at 61,250 as of 9.25 am. NSE’s Nifty50 shed more than 15 points or 0.08 per cent to trade at 18,217.15.
Broader markets were trading flat as BSE midcap and smallcap indices were marginally up. India VIX, the Fear gauge at Dalal Street, inched up mildly to 14.42-level.
A significant recent market trend is the disconnect between US and Indian markets. On many days the Indian market has closed positively after negative closing in US markets, said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
“The fundamental reason for this disconnects is the resilience of the Indian economy even in the context of a sharp slowdown in global growth expected this year,” he added. “This disconnect is likely to continue since data indicates continuation of the Indian economy’s outperformance.”
Metal, technology and realty stocks were among the top laggards during the early trade, whereas buying in banking and financials capped the losses.
On the Nifty50 Index, Hindalco dropped more than 2 per cent, followed by one per cent decline in ONGC, JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Coal India. HDFC Life Insurance and IndusInd Bank led the gainers with more than one per cent rise, followed by Axis Bank.
The trading remained range-bound even in the broader market. Aarti Surfactants, Equitas Small Finance Bank, Precision Camshaft rose 6-7 per cent each, whereas GIC Housing, SML Isuzu and National Aluminium dropped up to 3 per cent each.
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