Investors take a pause after four-session rally, stock market opens flat on Wednesday

New Delhi , August 21: The stock market on Wednesday opened flat, as investors took a pause after a four-session rally in the market.

The Nifty at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened at 24,680. 50, up 18.30 points and BSE Sensex opened at 80667.30, down by 135.61 points. As per analysts, the Indian stock market is keenly watching the global trends this week.

Among the sectoral stocks on NSE, Auto, FMCG, Media, Metal, Pharma, Healthcare, Consumer Durables, Oil and Gas opened in green territory.

On the other hand, the sectoral stocks of Reality, Private Banks, PSU banks, IT, and Financial sectors opened in the red.

The top gainers at NSE in the initial hours were Divi's Laboratories, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, SBI Life, Nestle India, and Hindalco. The stocks of UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Tata Steel were top losers in the initial hours of the trade.

"However, the structural set-up, with falling inflation, strong macro and resilient domestic liquidity inflows lends strength to the Indian markets. The last FOMC meeting minutes today are being awaited for further monetary signals. On the 23rd Fed Chair, Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole symposium is expected to be dovish and should lend further support to the markets. We remain optimistic on the markets and will be buying on every dip in the Indian markets," said Ajay Bagga, Market and Banking Expert.

Shrikant Chauhan, Head of Equity Research Kotak Securities expressed his optimism as he said the benchmark indices showed positive momentum.

"On Tuesday, the buying interest was observed in banking and financial stocks, while some profit booking took place in select FMCG and media stocks during intraday trading. From a technical perspective, the overall market structure appears bullish. However, we recommend that day traders consider buying on dips as the ideal strategy, " Chauhan said.

In global markets, U.S. stocks closed slightly lower on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq Composite down 0.33 per cent, the S&P 500 down 0.20 per cent, and the Dow Jones down 0.15 per cent. Asian markets are mixed, with Japan's Nikkei 225 down 0.77 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI down 0.17 per cent, while China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.14 per cent.

WTI crude is at USD 73.09, down 0.78 per cent, and Brent crude is at USD 77.11, down 0.71 per cent. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,457.96 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 2,252.10 crore on August 20, 2024.