Markets open flat as Investors await Fed Chair Powell’s speech

Sensex and Nifty opened on a flat note today, amid cautious sentiment driven by global market uncertainties and investor focus on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s upcoming speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. The Sensex opened at 81,165.65, slightly higher than the previous close of 81,053.19, while the Nifty began the day at 24,845.40, up from the previous close of 24,811.50.

Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, noted, “The GIFT Nifty is treading cautiously following a weak US manufacturing update that triggered a risk-off mood on Wall Street.” He added that “all attention is now focused on Jerome Powell’s upcoming Jackson Hole speech,” which investors are keenly awaiting to see if it will confirm a potential September rate cut.

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Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research at Kotak Securities, highlighted that “the benchmark indices showed positive momentum” on Thursday, with the Nifty trading 40 points higher and the Sensex up by 148 points. However, he noted that intraday profit booking occurred at higher levels, particularly in select IT and energy stocks, while consumer, metals, and PSU bank stocks saw buying activity.

Vikas Jain, Head of Research at Reliance Securities, remarked, “Yesterday, Nifty ended above the 24,800 mark and sustained above the 24,750 level, indicating a bullish trend.” He also mentioned that “the focus today will be on the US Fed statement,” with a trend that is expected to be “flat to positive.”

According to Hardik Matalia, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, the markets are expected to remain range-bound, with Nifty’s immediate support at 24,700 and resistance at 24,900. He stated that “traders holding long positions should maintain a trailing stop loss at 24,500 on a closing basis.”

In early trading, the top gainers on the NSE were Bajaj Auto (up 2.17 per cent), Hero Motocorp (up 1.23 per cent), Apollo Hospitals (up 0.79 per cent), Tata Motors (up 0.60 per cent), and Reliance (up 0.59 per cent). On the other hand, the top losers included LTIMindtree (down 1.09 per cent), Titan (down 0.87 per cent), Infosys (down 0.85 per cent), Wipro (down 0.67 per cent), and Tech Mahindra (down 0.64 per cent).

Meanwhile, crude oil futures traded slightly higher as the market awaited further guidance from Powell’s speech. At 9:25 am, October Brent oil futures were at $77.29, up by 0.09 per cent, and October crude oil futures on WTI were at $73.06, up by 0.07 per cent.

As global markets show a cautious trend, the Indian markets are expected to continue their flat trajectory throughout the day, with investors closely monitoring developments from Powell’s speech for further market direction.