Sensex, Nifty open on muted note; Infosys slips ahead of share buyback decision

Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty opened lower on Thursday, snapping their multi-session winning run amid concerns that the US has asked the European Union to impose 100 per cent tariffs on countries buying Russian oil.

Investors were cautious ahead of US inflation data. Global markets were mixed, and investors awaited progress in India-US trade negotiations.

At 9:15 am, the BSE Sensex slipped 32.91 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 81,392.24 after losing as much as 208 points in early trade. The NSE Nifty50 shed 12.40 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 24,960.70, having hit a day’s low of 24,940.15.

Among Sensex stocks, Infosys led losers, dropping 1 per cent to Rs 1,517.25.  Tech Mahindra shares slipped 0.45 per cent. Other losers included Trent (down 0.40 per cent), HDFC Bank (down 0.36 per cent) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 0.24 per cent).

In overnight trade, the S&P 500 advanced 0.30 per cent to finish at 6,532.04, while the Nasdaq added 0.03 per cent to close at 21,886.06. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.48 per cent, ending the session at 45,490.92.

Earlier on Thursday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 0.99 per cent to 44,271.92, while South Korea’s KOSPI edged up 0.37 per cent to 3,326.65. In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.36 per cent to 26,106.37.

The bulls held sway on Wednesday as the Sensex surged 324 points to 81,425, while the Nifty50 climbed 105 points to finish at 24,973, just a whisker away from the 25,000 mark.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said that a key trend in recent times has been India’s consistent underperformance compared to global peers.

Vijayakumar said many markets like the US, Taiwan and Korea are setting new record highs, Nifty is still 4.4 per cent below the record set in September 2024. “Largely this underperformance is the correction of the overvaluation caused by sustained domestic capital inflows into the market. Now the largecaps are fairly valued, but the mid and smallcaps, particularly the latter, continue to be overvalued,” he said.

“India’s resilient macros and the sweeping reforms implemented this year, particularly the GST reforms, have taken the economy to the cusp of a breakout growth. The only thaw is the Trump tariffs, which, going by the recent comments from President Trump and PM Modi, appear to be heading for a resolution,” Vijayakumar said.