Kamal Ghorui
Stock market today: Indian stock market indices, Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, tanked in opening trade on Thursday morning. While Nifty50 went below 25,900, BSE Sensex was down over 200 points. At 9:16 AM, Nifty50 was trading at 25,877.80, down 76 points or 0.29%. BSE Sensex was at 83,998.41, down 235 points or 0.28%.Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited says, “The latest US jobs data indicating addition of 1,30,000 jobs last month and unemployment falling to 4.3% points to the possibility of no rate cuts by the Fed in the near-term. In India, too, it appears that the rate cutting cycle is over since growth is good and inflation is expected to inch back to the RBI’s long-term target by the end of FY 27. Support to the market has to come from earnings growth, and there are sectors like automobiles, jewellery, hotels, segments of capital goods, telecom and financials that are doing well on the earnings front and have the potential to continue to do well.”“Tech stocks, reeling under the Anthropic shock, are unlikely to recover soon. The sharp dip in the ADRs of top Indian IT companies in the US yesterday, indicates that Indian IT will continue to struggle. The switch from IT to other segments will help performing stocks in performing sectors. The sharp rise in stocks like Eicher, Titan and Apollo Hospital in response to results indicate that the market will reward better-than-expected results. Even with occasional profit booking, the undertone of the market will remain resilient mainly because there is a trend of FIIs turning buyers. The fact that FIIs were buyers in six of the last seven trading sessions, indicates that at least the trend of sustained selling is over. In the near-term the market is likely to consolidate around the current levels with an upward bias.”In the United States, the Nasdaq and the Dow closed marginally lower on Wednesday, while the S&P 500 remained largely flat. A stronger-than-expected employment report helped ease concerns about economic weakness but also strengthened expectations that the Federal Reserve may slow the pace of interest rate cuts.Asian markets, however, continued their upward momentum, extending gains for a fifth consecutive session and outperforming US peers so far this year. Investors were attracted by relatively lower valuations and stronger growth prospects across the region. Meanwhile, US Treasury prices declined further after the robust jobs data reinforced expectations of tighter monetary conditions.Oil prices moved higher early Thursday as geopolitical concerns resurfaced. Brent crude futures rose 34 cents, or 0.49%, to $69.74 per barrel at 0126 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 37 cents, or 0.57%, to $65.00.Foreign portfolio investors remained net buyers, purchasing equities worth Rs 944 crore on Wednesday. Domestic institutional investors also added to equities, recording net purchases of Rs 125 crore.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market, other asset classes or personal finance management tips given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)
