umbai: The Indian stock market opened in red on Monday as selling was seen in Nifty’s auto, IT, PSU Bank, pharma and metal sectors.

At around 9:32 a.m., the Sensex was trading at 81,876.95 after declining 256.17 points or 0.31 percent, while the Nifty was trading at 24,705.60 after dropping 62.70 points or 0.25 percent.

The market trend remained positive. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,170 stocks were trading in green, while 571 stocks were in red.

Akshay Chinchalkar of Axis Securities said that Friday’s highly volatile session saw the Nifty slump during the early part of the session, “but the day’s low occurred exactly at the falling neckline of the bullish head-and-shoulders pattern which was activated on December 3 with an upside objective of 25,500.”

He added that this objective remains valid as long as the market stays above 23,873, but more critical support now is the Friday low of 24,180.

The Nifty Bank was down 168 points, or 0.31 percent, at 53,415.80. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 59,234.85 after rising 243.30 points, or 0.41 percent. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 19,515.40 after rising 108.10 points, or 0.56 percent.

According to market experts, the huge positions in F&O segments are causing such heightened volatility in the market. The 500-point move in the nifty from the day’s trough to the peak indicates massive short covering.

In the Sensex pack, NTPC, JSW Steel, M&M, Titan, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, TCS, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Axis Bank and Tech Mahindra were the top losers. Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, L&T, ITC, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank and HCL Tech were the top gainers.

The Asian markets, except China’s, were trading in the red. Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul, Jakarta, and Japan were the only markets in the red.

In US stock markets, the Nasdaq Composite ended 0.12 percent higher, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.20 percent down on the previous trading session.

On December 13, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,335.32 crore, while domestic institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 732.20 crore on the same day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

–IANS

Infographics: Pinaki Paul