Stock market today (AI image)

Stock market today: Nifty50 and BSE Sensex dropped in opening trade on Friday on weak global cues and falling global markets. At 9:17 AM, Nifty50 was trading at 25,403.15, down 93 points or 0.37%. BSE Sensex was at 81,986.79, down 262 points or 0.32%.Analysts are of the view that the stock market is likely to move within a narrow range amid mixed global signals, with stock-specific trends expected to dominate trading. A volatile global environment is prompting investors to focus on sectors driven by domestic demand and policy support.Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited says, “At the index level the market has been in a consolidation mode for three months now, without any significant breakouts or breakdowns. But within the index, there are significant up moves and down moves. Last one month alone saw a huge 20% cut in Nifty IT index following the Anthropic shock. If we extend this to the last one year, some interesting trends are discernible. While Nifty delivered 13 % return during the last one year, six stocks in the index delivered above 50% return with Stiram Finance leading from the front with 92% return. Perhaps more importantly, five stocks in the Nifty delivered above 20% negative returns during this period. The significant takeaway from this divergent performance is that this is a stock picker’s market. This trend is likely to continue. Therefore, the focus of the investors has to be stock-specific, rather than big index level movements. From the valuation perspective, financials are fairly priced.”Global markets remained under pressure after US equities declined sharply on Thursday, as investor sentiment weakened following artificial intelligence leader Nvidia’s earnings, which failed to meet market expectations. The disappointing response to the results weighed heavily on technology stocks that had supported the recent rally on Wall Street.Asian markets also retreated from record levels, tracking losses in US benchmarks as investors reacted cautiously to Nvidia Corp.’s earnings outcome.On the institutional front, foreign portfolio investors remained net sellers, offloading shares worth Rs 3,465 crore on Thursday. In contrast, domestic institutional investors provided support to the market with net purchases amounting to Rs 5,032 crore.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market, other asset classes or personal finance management tips given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)