Indian stock market opens lower amid weak Asian cues

Mumbai, June 17
The Indian benchmark indices opened lower on Tuesday amid weak Asian cues as selling was seen in the auto, IT and pharma sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.28 am, Sensex was trading 186.35 points or 0.23 per cent down at 81,609.80 while the Nifty declined 68.20 point or 0.27 per cent at 24,878.30

Nifty Bank was down 30.10 points or 0.05 per cent at 55,914.80. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 58,732.10 after dropping 36.40 points or 0.06 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 18,482.90 after declining 66.30 points or 0.36 per cent.

According to analysts, US President Donald Trump's latest comments on Iran kept investors on edge regarding the geopolitical outlook.

Despite the escalation of the Iran-Israel conflict, stock markets are steady and resilient. The decline in the US volatility index CBOE suggests that markets are unlikely to correct sharply unless the conflict takes a dramatic turn for the worse, said market experts.

"The main contributor to the market resilience is the retail investors using every dip in the market as a buying opportunity. Valuations do not appear to deter retail investors," said Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist of Geojit Investments Limited.

Meanwhile, in the Sensex pack, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, NTPC, PowerGrid, Adani Ports, ICICI Bank, SBI, TCS and HCL Tech were the top gainers. Whereas, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, Titan and Bajaj Finance were the top losers.

On the institutional front, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers as they sold equities worth Rs 2,287.69 crore on June 16, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 5,607.64 crore.

In the Asian markets, Bangkok, Jakarta, Japan and Seoul were trading in green, whereas Hong Kong and China were trading in red.

In the last trading session, Dow Jones in the US closed at 42,515.09, up 317.30 points, or 0.75 per cent. The S&P 500 ended with a gain of 56.14 points, or 0.94 per cent, at 6,033.11 and the Nasdaq closed at 19,701.21, up 294.39 points, or 1.52 per cent.

The US Federal Reserve's two-day meeting is scheduled to begin on Tuesday and conclude on Wednesday. The central bank is widely expected to maintain interest rates at their current level when the meeting concludes.

"Comments from Chair Jerome Powell regarding the future path of interest rates will be closely scrutinised, particularly given recent signs of cooling inflation coupled with continued economic resilience," said Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities.