Stock Market Today: Sensex opens flat, Nifty holds 26,000 ahead of RBI policy outcome

Stock Market Today: Indian markets opened on a lacklustre note on Friday, tracking mixed global cues. The GIFT Nifty had also hinted at a muted start for the benchmark indices.

Investors on Dalal Street are waiting for the RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decision on interest rates. The three-day meeting concludes today.

Sensex opens flat The BSE Sensex opened at 85,125.48. It was trading at 85,247.05 at 9:17 am. The index slipped 18.27 points. This meant a fall of 0.02 per cent from the previous close of 85,265.32.

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The Nifty 50 opened at 25,999.80. It slipped to 26,009.40 in early trade. This was a decline of 24.35 points. The fall was 0.09 per cent from the previous close of 26,033.75.

Top gainers and losers

Trent, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors PV, Sun Pharma, and Titan were the top losers on the Sensex in early trade.
Eternal, BEL, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Bank, Infosys, and Ultratech Cement emerged as the top gainers.

Broader market weak

In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap index slipped 0.07 per cent. The Nifty SmallCap index fell 0.30 per cent, indicating mild selling pressure across secondary market segments.

Sectoral trend mixed

Among sectors, the Nifty Pharma and Metal indices were the top losers, down 0.3 per cent each. On the positive side, the Nifty Realty index added 0.28 per cent.

In early sectoral performance, Nifty IT, Metal, Nifty Pharma and Healthcare indices opened in green with marginal gains.
Weakness persisted in other segments. Nifty Auto was down 0.10 per cent, Nifty FMCG 0.11 per cent, Nifty Private Bank 0.26 per cent, and Nifty Consumer Durables 0.33 per cent.

Global cues and geopolitical backdrop

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Delhi on Thursday evening for a two-day State visit. He will hold the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, adding to the geopolitical backdrop influencing market sentiment.

Markets are expected to remain range-bound until the RBI policy announcement.