After a strong rally during week, stock market opens in negative territory on Friday

Among the Nifty 50 shares, 26 advanced while 24 declined in early trading. The top gainers included Cipla, Divis Lab, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco, and Hindustan Unilever.

Indian stock markets experienced a slight dip in the opening session on Friday, following a week-long rally. The Nifty 50 opened at 24,213, down by 90 points, while at 79,600, the BSE Sensex was 481 points down during the initial trading. "Overall the markets are in their up move, but we have seen small private sector banks being bid up on good operational results and on the converse side, slightly flattish operational results from a large private sector bank are leading to a fall in the sector today," said Ajay Bagga, Banking and Market Expert.

Among the Nifty 50 shares, 26 advanced while 24 declined in early trading. The top gainers included Cipla, Divis Lab, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco, and Hindustan Unilever. Conversely, the biggest losers were HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Titan, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Bajaj Finserv. "It would be good to take some money off the table from sectors that have run up a lot on expectations or performance like defence, railways and the power sector or news flow driven sectors like cement, which are facing margin erosion and new capacity coming on stream when volumes are muted" said Bagga.

The broader market indices, including Nifty 100, Nifty 200, and Nifty 500, also faced selling pressure and saw declines during early trade. Sectoral indices such as Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto, Nifty Financial Services, and Nifty Private Bank also experienced downward trends. This market dip comes after a strong rally earlier in the week, which saw the Sensex surpass the 80,000 mark.

On Thursday, Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 2,575.85 crore, contrasting with Domestic Institutional Investors (DII) who sold shares worth Rs 2,375.18 crore on July 4, 2024. "At 80,000 Sensex there is no valuation comfort in the market. Investors should expect only moderate returns in the medium term at the present levels. Long-term prospects are certainly bright and, therefore, investors can continue with systematic investment. Asset allocation based on risk appetite should be the strategy at this juncture in the market" said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

In Asia, markets opened mostly higher, with Japan's Nikkei 225 up 0.03 per cent and Korea's Kospi gaining 0.85 per cent. The Asia Dow rose 1.56 per cent, while Hang Seng traded flat and the Shanghai Composite edged 0.04 per cent lower. The US Dollar Index (DXY) declined 0.08 per cent to 105.07, reflecting a slight weakening against a basket of six currencies. US markets were closed on July 4 for Independence Day. (ANI)

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