Sensex, Nifty open lower amid US trade policy uncertainty

Mumbai, July 14 The Indian equity indices opened lower on Monday due to the ongoing US trade policy uncertainty and mixed global cues.

At 9:19 am, Sensex was down 212 points or 0.24 per cent at 82,301 and Nifty was down 49 points or 0.20 per cent at 25,104.

Marginal buying was seen in the midcap and smallcap stocks. Nifty midcap 100 index was up 94 points or 0.16 per cent at 58,736 and Nifty smallcap 100 index was up 25 points or 0.14 per cent at 18,788.

According to analysts, Nifty has been exhibiting a weak trend weighed mainly by the weakness in the IT stocks.

“This weakness may persist particularly since the FIIs were big sellers in the cash market last Friday," said, VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd.

It is important to note that banking and financials are outperforming even in this weak market.

“This trend may persist. The market has already discounted the NIM compression for banking stocks expected in Q1 results. Therefore, dips in banking stocks will provide opportunities to buy," he added.

Among the sectoral indices, auto, PSU bank, metal, realty and energy were in the green, while IT, financial services, pharma, FMCG, media and infra were major losers.

In the Sensex pack, Trent, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, Titan, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, M&M, SBI and Tata Steel were top gainers.

Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, L&T, HCL Tech, Tata Motors, Kotak Mahindra bank and HUL were top losers.

On the institutional front, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of equities worth Rs 5,104 crore on July 11, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers, investing Rs 3,558 crore.

Most Asia-Pacific markets were trading in the mixed zone as investors reacted to renewed trade tensions.

US President Donald Trump's 30 per cent tariff on imports from the European Union and Mexico, effective August 1, spooked markets. The EU postponed its 30 per cent retaliatory tariffs against the US to allow for further talks.

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