Stock market today: Indian equity benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty50, opened flat in trade on Friday. While BSE Sensex was near 82,800, Nifty50 was above 25,350. At 9:17 AM, BSE Sensex was trading at 82,873.23, down 89 points or 0.11%. Nifty50 was at 25,363.90, down 25 points or 0.098%.
“Overall we expect the market to continue its ongoing momentum on the back of healthy buying by FIIs and retail participation at every dip,” said Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal.
Nagaraj Shetti of HDFC Securities noted that the daily chart formed a long bull candle, breaking above the crucial resistance zone at 25,360 (1.382% Fibonacci extension), signaling a decisive upside breakout.
In the global markets, S&P 500 futures remained steady, while Hang Seng futures rose 0.2%, and S&P/ASX 200 futures climbed 0.6%. The euro was little changed at $1.1076, the Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 141.64 per dollar, the offshore yuan was stable at 7.1185 per dollar, and the Australian dollar remained unchanged at $0.6725.
Oil prices increased on Friday, extending gains triggered by output disruptions in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico due to Hurricane Francine. Brent crude futures rose by 34 cents, or 0.5%, to $72.31 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures increased by 38 cents, or 0.6%, to $69.35 a barrel.
Several stocks are under the F&O ban today, including Balrampur Chini Mills, Hindustan Copper, ABFRL, RBL Bank, Chambal Fertilisers, Bandhan Bank, Aarti Industries, and Granules. These securities have crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.
Foreign portfolio investors turned net buyers, investing Rs 7,695 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 1,800 crore.
The net long position of FIIs increased from Rs 1.51 lakh crore on Wednesday to Rs 1.9 lakh crore on Thursday.