The Indian benchmark indices experienced slight declines on Thursday due to profit booking, rising geopolitical tensions, and subdued sentiment from Asian markets. As of 9:23 am, Sensex fell by 108 points, or 0.13%, to 84,852, while Nifty decreased by 46 points, or 0.18%, to 26,094. The main broad-cap indices closely mirrored the benchmark indices, with Nifty Midcap 100 down by 0.32% and Nifty Smallcap 100 losing 0.14%.
Bharat Electronics and SBI Life Insurance emerged as significant gainers in the Nifty pack, while all sectoral indices, except Nifty realty and consumer durables, were in the red. Nifty metal recorded the highest losses, declining by 1.27%. Market analysts noted that immediate support is at the 26,000–26,050 zone, with resistance at 26,250–26,300.
Despite the current short-term softness, analysts highlighted a bullish broader positional trend, supported by higher tops and higher bottoms on the daily charts. In the Asia-Pacific region, markets showed mixed trends in the morning session, tracking losses in Wall Street following comments from US President Donald Trump that escalated geopolitical tensions. China’s Shanghai index rose by 0.09%, Shenzhen dropped by 0.2%, Japan’s Nikkei fell by 0.96%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined by 1.26%, and South Korea’s Kospi advanced by 0.64%.
In the US markets, Nasdaq saw a 0.16% increase, while the S&P 500 and the Dow dropped by 0.34% and 0.94%, respectively. ADP’s December employment data revealed the addition of 41,000 jobs, slightly below expectations. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold net equities worth Rs 1,528 crore on January 5, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of equities worth Rs 2,889 crore.
