The Indian stock market traded on a flat-to-positive note on Friday after opening in the red. Selling pressure was witnessed in financial stocks, owing to Afghan developments, while IT stocks rose.
Around 10.50 a.m., Sensex was trading at 55,997.10, higher by 48 points or 0.09 per cent from its previous close of 55,949.10. It opened at 55,862.93 and has so far touched an intraday high of 56,003.77 and a low of 55,675.87 points.
The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange was trading at 16,662.30, higher by 25.40 points or 0.15 per cent from its previous close.
Manish Hathiramani, technical analyst with Deen Dayal Investments said: "The markets have opened on a tepid note. The weekend is knocking on the doors too. The coming week will give us a clearer sense on the direction of the index."
"The overall trend is positive and choppy sessions should be used to enter long positions. The current support for the market is at 16,400," he said.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, while the major losers were IndusInd Bank, HDFC and ICICI Bank.
Thursday's closure
Premium valuations, along with global cues, especially from the US Fed's symposium, subdued key domestic indices on Thursday.
Indices erased their initial gains to end on a flat note. Globally, investors waited for more clarity on monetary policy from US Fed's ongoing Jackson Hole Symposium, while triggers in Asia, specifically from China, subdued indices.
On the domestic front, volumes were once again below recent averages. Sector-wise, metals and telecom stocks came under pressure whereas oil and gas, power and capital goods stocks gained.
The S&P BSE Sensex fell to 55,949.10, up by 4.89 points, or 0.0087 per cent, from its previous close. The NSE Nifty50 closed a bit higher. It rose to 16,636.90, up by just 2.25 points, or 0.014 per cent, from its previous close.
"Nifty has once again started to form flat closes day after day, like it did in Aug 05-11 period. However post Aug 11, the Nifty broke upwards of the range," HDFC Securities' Head of Retail Research, Deepak Jasani said.
"As long as Nifty is not able to post healthy day on day gain, the broader market will struggle to bounce up."
Motilal Oswal Financial Services' Head, Retail Research, Siddhartha Khemka said: "After sharp outperformance in the past 18 months led to concerns on valuation front and the likely impact on liquidity due to changes in global monetary policy had investors concerned over the last few days."
"Hence, we had seen market interest shifting away from mid-caps to large caps."
