Indian stock indices edged marginally lower at opening bell Tuesday
Jan 30, 2024
New Delhi [India], January 30 : Indian stock indices started Tuesday's session marginally in the red after a sharp jump during the previous session. Benchmark Sensex and Nifty were about 0.1 per cent lower than their previous day's closing at the opening bell today.
The marginal fall in the benchmark indices could be attributed to mild profit booking.
Domestic investors are now bracing for a busy week with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget proposals and other macro-economic guidance, due on Thursday, which will be keenly tracked. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the interim union budget on Thursday.
The interim budget typically takes care of the fiscal needs of the intervening period until a government is formed after the Lok Sabha polls.
Besides, the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's first policy meeting of the year 2024, scheduled for Wednesday, will also be on investors' radar.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors have been aggressively selling Indian stocks, turning net sellers in the Indian equity market so far in January 2024, after making a beeline to accumulate domestic stocks during the past two months--November and December.
The data available from the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) showed that the FPIs sold Indian stocks worth Rs 19,664 crore so far in January. In December, especially, they made a beeline to invest in Indian stock markets, with a cumulative accumulation of Rs 66,135 crore.
"In the near-term, expectations regarding the budget will influence the market. Market doesn't expect any major changes in taxation relating to the capital market. Therefore, any such proposal will have an impact on the market," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
"Large caps like RIL, Bharti Airtel, L&T and ICICI have strength to support the market," Vijayakumar added.
According to Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking, "The stability in banking combined with buoyancy on the global front is aiding recovery however the upside seems capped citing multiple hurdles."
"We thus suggest focusing on sectors/themes that are attracting consistent buying. Needless to say, the volatility is here to stay so limit aggressive longs and prefer hedged bets," Mishra added.
