Market opens flat: Will Nifty edge closer to its record high?

With 1,329 shares rising on the NSE and 907 shares declining, the advance-decline ratio strongly remained in favour of advances.

Market Update at 9:30 AM: Indian benchmarks opened the trading session flat, fluctuating between marginal gains and losses. At 9:30 am, the BSE Sensex edged down by 0.02 per cent reaching a level of 81,681. The Nifty 50 index edged down by 0.02 per cent to the 25,005 level.

Within the Nifty 50, HCL Technologies, Apollo Hospitals and Bajaj Finserv were among the leading gainers, whereas Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Shriram Finance and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the market draggers.

In contrast, the broader market demonstrated resilience and was trading significantly higher. With 1,329 shares rising on the NSE and 907 shares declining, the advance-decline ratio strongly remained in favour of advances.

In terms of sectoral performance, Nifty Media and Nifty Pharma were the best performers, while Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Bank experienced the notable decline.

Pre-Market Update at 8:30 AM: Wall Street indices had a mixed start to the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a record close with a considerable gain of 0.16 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 declined by 0.85 per cent and 0.32 per cent, respectively, as investors opted to book profits following a strong uptrend in recent sessions.

All major Asian indices were in the red today, with the China’s Shenzhen Component Index leading the losses, down more than 1 per cent. The GIFT Nifty was trading below the previous close of Nifty futures, indicating a likely negative opening for Indian headline indices.

Oil prices surged around 3 per cent on Monday, driven by investor concerns over supply following reports of escalating conflict in the Middle East and production cuts in Libya.

The U.S. dollar surged from an eight-month low, while the yen strengthened against most currencies, as escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East drove investors towards safe-haven assets.

On August 26, both foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers, with FIIs purchasing shares worth Rs 483 crore and DIIs making a significant inflow of Rs 1,870 crore.