Sensex, Nifty open on choppy note; IT stocks tumble
Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty opened on a choppy note on Wednesday, led by weakness in index-heavyweight IT stocks amid tepid cues from global markets. Despite opening with mild gains, the 30-share Sensex turned volatile to trade 41.84 points or 0.07 percent lower at 58,237.64. Similarly, Nifty slipped 15.35 points or 0.09 percent to 17,346.75 in initial deals.
Who were the gainers and losers?
Infosys was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding over one percent, followed by PowerGrid, HCL Tech, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Maruti, and Bajaj Auto. Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Axis Bank, ITC, ICICI Bank, SBI, and Bajaj Finance were among the gainers.
Sensex had ended at 58,279.48 in the previous session
In the previous session, the 30-share index settled 17.43 points or 0.03 percent lower at 58,279.48, the broader NSE Nifty fell 15.70 points or 0.09 percent to 17,362.10. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs. 145.45 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional exchange data.
Markets are richly valued and ripe for a correction: Expert
"By all matrices of valuations markets are richly valued, even overvalued, and ripe for a correction. But unmindful of valuation concerns, the market driven by liquidity and retail investor exuberance, is setting record after records," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. He further noted that India is one of the best-performing markets in the world.
Brent crude was trading at $71.62 per barrel
Consequently, valuations have become excessive. "Corrections are imminent but we don't know when that will happen," he said. Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai and Tokyo were trading with gains in mid-session deals, while Seoul and Hong Kong were in the red. US equities ended mixed in the overnight session. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.10 percent to $71.62 per barrel.
