Market Opens Flat as Short-Term Trend Signals Downward Slide

Mumbai (Alayaran.com): The Indian stock market started flat today, with the BSE Sensex and Nifty50 indices struggling to gain momentum. At 9:19 AM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 77,589.93, a mere 0.012% up from its previous close of 77,579.73. In contrast, the Nifty50 index plummeted 4 points or 0.016% to reach 23,529.00.

Industry analysts have pointed out that a sell-on-rise strategy remains advisable for the market at present. Ajit Mishra, Senior Vice President and Research Head at Religare Broking, advised long-term investors to opt for stocks with solid earnings and accumulate them gradually. The technical perspective suggests that the current trend is downward and may only recover above 23,500.

The recent decline of domestic markets, which experienced a fall of over two and a half percent last week, has raised concerns among market watchers. With most of the earnings season now complete, foreign institutional investor (FII) flows are expected to become the main focus for the upcoming week, during which Indian markets will remain closed due to a holiday.

The weakening Asian markets is also sending shockwaves throughout the region, with markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai experiencing significant downturns. In the US, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices succumbed to losses on Friday, putting downward pressure on global market sentiment.

On Thursday, foreign investment flows took an adverse turn, with FIIs selling stocks worth Rs 1,850 crore while domestic investors purchased shares valued at Rs 2,542 crore. The net short position of FII increased from Rs 2.12 lakh crore to Rs 2.21 lakh crore on Wednesday and beyond.