Indian share market opens lower, all eyes on US Fed meet

Mumbai (The Uttam Hindu): The Indian stock market opened in red on Tuesday as selling was seen in Nifty's PSU Bank, financial service, FMCG and metal sectors. At around 9:33 am, Sensex was trading at 81,548.45 after declining 200.12 points or 0.24 per cent, while the Nifty was trading at 24,605.5 after dropping 62.70 points or 0.25 per cent. The market trend remained positive. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 1,263 stocks were trading in green, while 989 stocks were in red.

Nifty Bank was down 133.10 points or 0.25 per cent at 53,448.25. Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 59,587.30 after rising144.25 points or 0.24 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 19,575.45 after rising 44.40 points or 0.23 per cent. In the Sensex pack, Reliance, Nestle India, Bharti Airtel, JSW Steel, HDFC Bank and Infosys were the top losers. Tata Motors, Adani Ports, Hindustan Unilever Limited, HCL and Tech Mahindra were the top gainers. Globally, markets will be looking forward to the Federal Open Market Committee outcome on Wednesday. Markets have already discounted a 25bp rate cut and, therefore, the focus will be on the Fed chief’s commentary, said experts.

The US services PMI coming strong at 58.5 per cent indicates a resilient economy, which augurs well for the market. In the Asian markets, except Japan, the markets of China, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul and Jakarta were trading in red. In US stock markets, the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 ended 1.24 per cent and 0.38 per cent higher respectively and Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.25 per cent down in the previous trading session. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 278.70 crore in India on December 16, while domestic institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 234.25 crore on the same day.