Indian benchmark stock market indices saw a slight uptick in the Thursday morning session following a sharp decline in the previous session driven by widespread selling.
At 11:13 am, the Sensex stood at 72,991.80 points, marking a gain of 229.91 points or 0.32 per cent, while the Nifty was at 22,087.90 points, up by 90.20 points or 0.41 per cent. According to NSE data, among the Nifty 50 stocks, 33 advanced while the remaining 17 declined.
Wednesday’s trading session ended with significant losses as the Nifty 50 dropped by 338 points, while the Sensex witnessed an intra-day plunge of over 1,000 points.
Market watchers are closely monitoring the wholesale price inflation data expected later in the day.
Despite recent volatility, the broader market indices remain close to their all-time highs reached late last week, buoyed by strength in most sectoral indices and stable macroeconomic indicators. The Sensex crossed the 74,000 mark for the first time last week.
Foreign portfolio investors, who turned net sellers in the Indian equity market in January 2024, became net buyers in February and March. In March alone, they have purchased stocks worth Rs 26,242 crore, according to data from the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).
Commenting on the market situation, Icra Analytics stated, “Indian equity markets closed with significant losses due to broad-based selling across sectors. Heavy sell-off was witnessed, especially in the mid-cap and small-cap segments, ahead of mutual fund houses revealing stress test results on March 15, 2024, as per AMFI’s directive.”
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, emphasized, “The lesson from market history is that frothy valuations are unsustainable. Therefore, the recent market turbulence is hardly surprising. There is potential for further correction in the broader market due to elevated valuations. Investors should focus on large caps and quality midcaps, leveraging the market turbulence for cherry-picking opportunities.”