Stock Market Today: Sensex starts flat; Nifty below 25,300; Eternal top gainer

Stock Market Today: The Indian equity market opened on a mixed note on Tuesday, January 21, with benchmark indices trading in a narrow range amid cautious global cues.

Sensex

The BSE Sensex was marginally higher in early trade. At 9:16 am, the index was up 14.14 points, or 0.02 per cent, at 82,194.61. The Sensex had opened sharply lower at 81,794.65 compared with its previous close of 82,180.47, but recovered some losses soon after the opening bell.

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Nifty

The NSE Nifty 50, however, slipped into the red. The index was down 34.25 points, or 0.14 per cent, at 25,198.25 at the same time. Nifty had opened at 25,141.00 against its previous close of 25,232.50.

Top movers

At the index level, the weakness was driven by selling in heavyweight stocks. ICICI Bank, Trent, BEL, L&T, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, Power Grid, HCL Tech, TCS, Asian Paints and SBI were exerting pressure on the benchmarks. These stocks fell up to 1 per cent.

On the other hand, select stocks provided some support to the market. Eternal, Sun Pharma, UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, ITC, M&M, Bajaj Finserv, HUL, Titan and IndiGo emerged as the top gainers during the session.

Broader markets underperformed

The broader market continued to remain weak. The Nifty MidCap index fell 0.94 per cent, while the Nifty SmallCap index declined 0.56 per cent.

The weakness was also visible across broader indices. The Nifty 100 index was down 0.36 per cent, the Nifty Midcap 100 slipped 0.32 per cent, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 declined 0.31 per cent.

Sectoral performance mixed

Sectorally, metals led the gains. The Nifty Metal index rose 0.3 per cent, followed by the Nifty Pharma index, up 0.27 per cent, and the Nifty PSU Bank index, higher by 0.17 per cent.

On the downside, the Nifty IT index declined 1 per cent, reflecting selling pressure in large IT stocks. The Nifty Realty index slipped 0.8 per cent. Other sectors also traded lower, with Nifty Auto down 0.63 per cent, Nifty FMCG lower by 0.29 per cent, Nifty IT down 0.26 per cent, and Nifty PSU Bank falling 0.37 per cent. In contrast, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Media gained 0.14 per cent each.

Global markets add to pressure

Asian markets continued to trade lower amid global uncertainty. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.44 per cent, Singapore’s Straits Times declined 0.32 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.08 per cent. Markets remained on edge after US President Donald Trump’s remarks targeting European nations over the Greenland issue.

On Wall Street, stocks witnessed their worst session since April last year. According to Bloomberg, volatility surged to its highest level since November. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices closed over 2 per cent lower, reflecting broad-based selling.

India VIX rises, volatility picks up

Market volatility increased further. India VIX rose for the fourth straight day, jumping 7.6 per cent to close at 12.7. During the day, it touched 12.90, marking a one-month high.

FII-DII activity remains divergent

Domestic institutional investors continued to provide strong support. DIIs bought shares worth Rs 3,665 crore, marking their 100th consecutive day of net buying. Over these 100 days, DIIs have invested a record Rs 3.46 lakh crore in equities.

In contrast, FIIs remained net sellers for the 11th straight session. They sold Rs 2,938 crore worth of shares in the cash market. Across cash, index futures and stock futures, FIIs recorded a net outflow of Rs 4,374 crore. Their index futures long position slipped to 9.18 per cent from 9.49 per cent.

Global cues remain weak

Globally, markets stayed under pressure. US equities recorded their biggest single-day fall since October 10. The Dow Jones slipped to a two-week low, the Nasdaq hit a five-week low, and the S&P 500 fell to a one-month low. European markets were trading near two- to six-week lows, while Japanese markets declined for the fifth consecutive session.

In currency markets, the rupee closed 6 paise lower at 90.98 per dollar, its lowest level since December 16. The rupee remains just 10 paise above its lifetime low of 91.08 per dollar.

The dollar index slipped below 98.5, hitting a two-week low. Meanwhile, US bond yields rose to 4.29 per cent, a four-and-a-half-month high.

Commodities remained volatile. Gold hit a lifetime high of Rs 1,52,500, while silver touched Rs 3,27,998, also a record high. Over the past two days, gold has risen Rs 8,050, while silver has jumped Rs 35,900. Base metals such as aluminium, nickel, zinc and lead fell 1 to 5 per cent, while crude oil traded flat near $64 a barrel.

Earnings in focus

Several companies are scheduled to announce their third-quarter results later in the day, including Eternal, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Bank of India, Waaree Energies, Oracle Financial Services Software, Jindal Stainless, Tata Communications, Supreme Industries, Dalmia Bharat, KEI Industries and PNB Housing Finance.

Markets are expected to remain volatile in the near term, with investors closely tracking global cues, earnings announcements and fund flow trends.