NSE Nifty was down by 0.25 per cent or 53.15 to 21,400.80 points, while the BSE Sensex was at 70,859.11, down by 0.28 per cent or 201.20 points in early trade.
Of the 3,091 stocks traded on BSE, 2031 advanced, 986 declined and 74 stocks remained unchanged. While 158 stocks hit 52 week high, 8 stocks hit 52 week low at 10 am on Thursday.
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “Since the tug of war between the FIIs and DIIs continues, volatility will remain high in the near-term. This volatility may be used by investors to churn their portfolios.
“A significant anomaly in the market is the high valuation in some pockets and the fair and even attractive valuation in some other pockets. For instance, some PSU stocks are flying high on hopes based on order flows. It will take a long time for these order flows like in ship building, for instance, to translate into profits. And there is no guarantee that it will happen. On the other hand pockets like banking are fairly valued and the performance and prospects are good. There is value in blue chip stocks like HDFC Bank.”
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“The rising bond yields in the US is a matter of concern. This rally in global stock markets was triggered by the Fed pivot which saw the 10-year bond yield falling from 5 per cent to around 3.8 per cent. Now the 10-year is back at 4.18 per cent which indicates that the Fed rate cut will come only in H2 of 2024. A significant take away from the Q3 results is the improving margins of the auto industry,” he added.
Major gainers on the NSE at 10 am include Coal India (1.75%), NTPC (1.67%), IndusInd Bank (1.56%), BPCL (1.19%) and Adani Ports (1.09%). Tech Mahindra (-4.13%), HCL Tech (-1.64%), SBI Life (-1.18%), Axis Bank (-0.81%) and Infosys (-0.71%) were the major laggards.
BSE small-cap index was up by 0.75 per cent and the mid-cap index was up by 0.38%.