First Trade: Sensex opens unchanged, Nifty at 22,838; metals continue to shine

Indian equities after sharp gains in the previous session opened Wednesday's session on a muted note. At the open, Sensex was flat with gains of just 0.07 points at 75,301.33, while Nifty50 was up 0.01 per cent or 3.3 points at 22,837.6.

Meanwhile, broader markets outperformed the headline indices, with midcaps leading the gains.

Sectorally, all sectors traded in the green, with metal pack leading the gains followed by PSU Bank. Nonetheless, there was seen a drag in the IT and private banking indices,

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, "The big question in investors’ minds is: will the market rally continue? The positive domestic macros favour continuation of the rally. If FIIs continue to buy, the rally can sustain, but it remains to be seen. The external factors continue to be negative and hugely uncertain. April 2nd and reciprocal tariffs are not far away. The market will be weighed down by the uncertainty on that front.
 
A significant feature of yesterday’s rally is that it was led by fairly-valued, domestic-focused segments like leading financials. This trend can continue. Beaten down stocks in the mid and smallcap segments also have bounced back. There is more steam left in this segment, too, even though the valuations in the broader market continue to be high. Investors can wait for better clarity to emerge on the sustainability of the ongoing trend. Domestic-focussed themes continue to be safe bets."
 

Asian  markets

Asian stocks mostly remained muted as Chinese stocks retreated from their tech and stimulus-driven gains. At the last count, the key MSCI Asia ex Japan index was down a tad lower at 594.24. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained marginally, while Japan's Nikkei was up nearly 0.5 per cent as the Bank of Japan maintained status quo in its key policy rate.