Nifty, Sensex Fall Erasing Morning Gains Amid Election Volatility: Midday Market Update

India's benchmark stock indices erased all morning gains to trade lower by midday on Thursday as continued selling by foreign investors on the jitter weighed on the stock. The indices had opened on a strong note owing to the softer US CPI data, which increased hope of a Fed rate cut by September.

At 11:52 a.m., the NSE Nifty 50 was trading 46.75 points, or 0.21%, lower at 22,153.80, and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 92.08 points, or 0.13%, to trade at 72,894.95. Intraday, the NSE Nifty 50 rose 0.53% to 22,330.00, and the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.56% to 73,396.75.

"The Indian market rose today, buoyed by gains on Wall Street, driven by robust US inflation data. Although the market has been confident over the past four days, ongoing selling by foreign institutional investors is still a big worry," said Shrey Jain, founder and chief executive officer at SAS Online.

For the Nifty 50, the 22,000 Put strike has significant open interest, indicating it will likely act as an immediate support. Conversely, the 22,500 level is expected to serve as a hurdle, with the 22,500 Call strike holding approximately 21 million shares, Jain said.

ICICI Bank Ltd., State Bank of India, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., Tata Motors Ltd. weighed on the Nifty 50.

Bharti Airtel Ltd., Infosys Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., Tech Mahindra Ltd., and HCL Technologies Ltd. limited the losses in the index.

On NSE, nine sectors declined and three advanced. The NSE Nifty PSU Bank declined the most, and the NSE Nifty Realty was the top performing sector.

Broader markets outperformed the benchmark indices, with the S&P BSE Midcap rising 0.52% and Smallcap gaining 0.69% through midday on Thursday.

On BSE, 11 sectors declined and nine advanced. The S&P BSE Auto index was the worst performing sector, and the S&P BSE Realty was the top performing sector.

Market breadth was skewed in favour of buyers. Around 1,988 stocks rose, 1,597 declined, and 142 remained unchanged on BSE.

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