FIRST TRADE: Equity indices open marginally higher; Nifty at 24,789, Sensex adds 30 pts

Indian equities in Tuesday's trade tracking mixed Asian markets opened mildly higher. Nifty at the open was up by 0.03 per cent or 8.2 points at 24,789.3, while the BSE Sensex was up 0.04 per cent or 29.75 points at 81,181.02. Bank Nifty, meanwhile, traded with minor gains, up 0.08 per cent at the last count.

Broader markets, after the previous day's sharp fall, traded mixed, with Nifty Smallcap 100 index extending the previous day's fall, while the Nifty Midcap 100 index traded higher.

Sectorally, FMCG, IT, Pharma and Consumer Durables traded with mild gains, while all others witnessed selling pressure, with the most cut seen on the Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Realty indices.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, "When market valuations are at elevated levels some triggers will cause corrections, making the valuations reasonable and in tune with long-term averages. This time the trigger for the correction has come from the sustained selling by FIIs which has reached Rs 88,244 crores by 21st October, according to NSDL."

This record-high FII sell figure didn’t impact the market severely because of the countervailing action of sustained DII buying. The fact is that even after the correction triggered by the sustained FII selling, Indian market valuations are higher than historical averages even though largecap valuations can be justified by their long-term growth prospects, he added.

Stocks in action

Shares of Zomato ahead of its Q2 show later today traded with gains of over 1 per cent at Rs 268.7 per share.

Bajaj Housing Finance shares traded with mild gains of over 0.5 per cent at Rs 137.25 after posting good Q2 results with profit soaring 21 per cent on-year.

Global markets

Meanwhile, Asian markets traded mixed with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index trading 0.51 per cent lower at the last count. Japan's Nikkei traded with a cut of over 1 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.08 per cent.