Sensex slips 165 points, Nifty below 17,500; IT & banks crack

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Domestic benchmark equity indices opened flat taking cues from global peers as investors assess risks associated with the new omicron Covid variant and look ahead to key inflation data in the U.S. In opening trades, Sensex slipped 165 points or 0.28% to 58,641. Similarly, Nifty was quoting at 17,474 lower by 42 points or 0.24%

“Nifty at 17500 is trading at around 20 times 1- year forward earnings, which is 40% higher than the long-average. Since valuations continue to be high even after the correction, FIIs are likely to continue selling. This will cap the upside to the market in the short run. A steady upmove will happen only if the FIIs move away from their present sell-mode. Long-term investors can use the weakness in the market to accumulate high-quality financials, IT and construction-related stocks since earnings visibility is high in these segments,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services

Gainers & losers

Sectoral strand

Barring Nifty Bank (down 0.03%) and Nifty IT (down 0.19%), all other sectoral indices were trading with gains. Nifty Metal index advanced 0.63%, Nifty Auto rallied 0.59% while Nifty Pharma and Nifty Realty index rose 0.48% each.

Broader markets

The broader markets outperformed benchmark indices as the BSE MidCap index was up marginally by 21 points or 0.08% to 25,630. Whereas the BSE SmallCap index was trading at 29,145 higher by 130 points or 0.45%.

The market breadth was also positive as 1,802 shares advanced compared to 838 declining and 105 remained unchanged.

Global markets

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading lower on Friday as investors assess risks associated with the new omicron Covid variant and look ahead to key inflation data in the U.S.

Wall Street closed lower on Thursday as investors banked some profits after three straight days of gains and turned their focus toward upcoming inflation data and how it might influence the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week.

On Friday, the Labor Department will release the consumer price index for November. As per reports, the reading could mark its highest year-over-year level since 1982.