Mumbai, February 6: The Indian stock market opened in the red on Friday due to a sell-off in global markets. At 9:18 AM, the Sensex was down by 78 points, standing at 83,235.55, while the Nifty fell by 56 points to 25,586.
In early trading, buying was observed in sectors such as oil and gas, private banking, energy, and financial services. Conversely, the IT, pharma, healthcare, media, auto, consumer durables, metals, and PSU indices faced pressure.
Selling was noted in large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap stocks. The Nifty Midcap 100 index dropped by 315 points or 0.53%, reaching 59,201, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell by 193 points or 1.14%, settling at 16,790.
Among the gainers in the Sensex pack were Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, Power Grid, Axis Bank, L&T, Titan, and Adani Ports. In contrast, TCS, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, NTPC, BEL, Asian Paints, Eternal, Indigo, and Trent were among the losers.
The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decisions will be announced by Governor Sanjay Malhotra at 10 AM. Investors are keenly awaiting this announcement.
Experts suggest that the RBI may maintain the repo rate at 5.25% during the February MPC meeting. Additionally, GDP and inflation forecasts are expected to remain unchanged. However, comments from the central bank following trade deals with the EU and the US will be crucial.
Previously, the RBI had reduced the repo rate by 0.25% in December.
Most global markets are experiencing declines. Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul, and Jakarta were in the red, while Bangkok showed gains. The US stock market closed lower on Thursday.
Internationally, gold and silver prices are also witnessing weakness. Gold on Comex is trading down by nearly 1%, while silver has fallen by about 5%.