Sensex, Nifty open lower amid rising geopolitical tensions

Mumbai, Jan 12 The Indian benchmark indices continued their decline on Monday amid rising geopolitical tensions and uncertainty surrounding the India-US trade deal.

As of 9.22 am, Sensex slipped 95 points, or 0.44 per cent to 83,212 and Nifty eased by 95 points, or 0.37 per cent to 25,588.

Main broad-cap indices were in line with benchmark indices, with the Nifty Midcap 100 down 0.33 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 lost 0.57 per cent.

Except metal and FMCG, all other sectoral indices were in the red zone -- with pharma, realty and media down over 1.4 per cent.

Immediate Nifty support lies at 25,500–25,600 zone, while a sustained breakout above 25,800–25,850 is essential to stabilise near-term momentum, market watchers said.

The US administration's strange comments are complicating the US-India trade deal, they added. The Venezuelan crisis, Iran crisis, and US President Donal Trump's threats on Greenland are also worrying the stock markets, raising the India VIX, indicating high volatility.

Investors are also keen on an expected ruling on Trump tariffs from the US Supreme Court which didn’t materialise last week.

Therefore, Q3 results and management commentary from the tech majors and other large caps in banking will influence the market trend in the near-term, analysts said.

Asia-Pacific markets traded in the green zone during the morning session, tracking Wall Street gains from last week after a US job report showed that the unemployment rate fell, indicating resilience in the labor market.

In Asian markets, China's Shanghai index gained 0.75 per cent, and Shenzhen added 1.31 per cent, Japan's Nikkei advanced 1.61 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.74 per cent. South Korea's Kospi advanced 1.08 per cent.

The US markets were mostly in the last trading session as Nasdaq added 0.82 per cent. The S&P 500 gained 0.65 per cent, and the Dow moved up 0.48 per cent.

On January 9, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold net equities worth Rs 8,808 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of equities worth Rs 15,700 crore.

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