Indian stock markets opened lower on Friday, extending losses for a fifth straight session, as foreign investors continued their selloff amid the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance on interest rate cuts before 2025.
The Sensex opened higher at 79,335.48 against the previous close of 79,218.05, but has fallen to 78,790.70 as of 10 am, down 427.35 points or 0.54 percent. Similarly, the Nifty opened slightly at 23,960.70 compared to the previous close of 23,951.70 and is now trading at 23,841.95, losing 109.75 points or 0.46 percent.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have sold shares worth ₹12,230.30 crore in the past four sessions, responding to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s conservative outlook for 2025 and concerns over India’s growth momentum. “The FII purchase from early December is now being reversed. This change in FII strategy is reflected in market trends, with largecaps, especially financials, coming under pressure,” said Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Within sectoral moves, information technology stocks showed resilience following Accenture’s positive results. The global IT giant raised its expectations, driven by strong demand for AI-powered tools, with new bookings rising to $18.7 billion. This development lifted Indian IT stocks, with TCS emerging as one of the biggest gainers with a rise of 0.93 percent.
In morning trade, NTPC led gains on the NSE, rising 1.39 per cent, followed by Adani Enterprises by 0.98 per cent, TCS by 0.93 per cent, Dr Reddy’s Lab by 0.93 per cent and Bajaj Auto by 0 .57 percent. On the other hand, Axis Bank led the losses with a decline of 1.56 percent, followed by L&T by 1.17 percent, Cipla by 1.15 percent, ITC by 0.94 percent and JSW Steel by 0.86 percent.
Market sentiment was also affected by global factors, including Japan’s core inflation, which reached a seven-month high of 2.7 percent in November, exceeding expectations. China maintained its benchmark lending rates, with the prime rate for one-year loans stable at 3.1 percent and the five-year rate at 3.6 percent, as Beijing struggles to support economic growth while protecting its currency.
“The negative reaction to the Fed’s comments will be temporary. Largecap-led recovery is possible in the near term,” Vijayakumar added, noting that pharma companies have remained resilient despite market weakness.
In the United States, the economy grew faster than initially expected in the third quarter, with GDP growing at an annual rate of 3.1 percent, surpassing the previous estimate of 2.9 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to break its longest losing streak since 1974, with a marginal gain of 15.37 points to close at 42,342.24.
The bullion market also felt the impact of the Fed’s hawkish stance, with gold prices falling to a one-month low. “Gold and silver continued their decline, pressured by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive guidance on possible rate cuts in 2025 and 2026, in addition to strong gains in the dollar index,” said Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities at Mehta Equities.
Technical analysts suggest the market could find support at current levels. “The Nifty found support at the November 28 low near 23870, which is also the area where the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement of the November-December advance meets a rising 200-day average,” said Akshay Chinchalkar, head of the Research Department. at Axis Securities.
