Indian markets open flat as FIIs continue selling spree, Nifty and Sensex under pressure

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The Indian stock market remained under pressure as both the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex opened flat on Friday, showing little momentum. This trend reflects the continued selling pressure by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), impacting the market's ability to rebound despite modest gains.

The Nifty 50 index opened at 24,418.05 points, gaining just 18 points or 0.08 per cent, while the BSE Sensex saw a slight increase of 122 points, or 0.15 per cent, opening at 80,187.34. According to experts, despite these minor gains, the prevailing market sentiment remains weak.

One of the key reasons for this downturn is the significant selling by FIIs, which has seen them offload nearly Rs 98,085 crore in the month of October up to the 24th, according to ANI reports. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, explained that the widely followed 'Buy on Dips' strategy is no longer effective due to this continued selling.

"Massive and sustained FII selling, which has touched Rs 98,085 crores this month, is weighing heavily on the markets. The downward revision in FY25 earnings estimates and weak Q2 results have also contributed to the bearish sentiment," said Vijayakumar.

However, there is a silver lining. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), fuelled by consistent mutual fund inflows, are helping to absorb the FII sell-off, offering some resilience to the market. Vijayakumar pointed out that despite the recent 7 per cent market correction, there is little valuation comfort except in a few areas like large-cap financial stocks.

In terms of sectoral performance, Nifty FMCG emerged as the best performer in the opening session, rising by around 1 per cent. Nifty Bank and Nifty IT showed a mixed trend, with Nifty IT registering a small gain of 0.09 per cent.

Among the top performers on the Nifty 50 list in the opening session were Axis Bank, ITC, HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, and Sun Pharma. On the losing side, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, L&T, and Shriram Finance led the declines, according to ANI.

Several major companies, including Coal India, Bharat Electronics, JSW Steel, DLF, and BPCL, are expected to announce their quarterly results later today. These results will be closely watched to gauge how corporate earnings are faring amid the current market volatility.

In other Asian markets, performance was mixed. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell by around 1 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index posted a gain of more than 1 per cent. Meanwhile, South Korea's KOSPI and Taiwan's Weighted Index were both up by 0.5 per cent, with Indonesia's Jakarta Composite rising marginally by 0.2 per cent at the time of filing this report, according to ANI.

With continued FII selling and weak Q2 results, the market faces a challenging period ahead. However, sustained DII support could provide some stability moving forward.

(With inputs from ANI)