All Eyes On RBI: Indian Markets Cautious, Nifty Hovers Around 24,700 In Early Trade

Rate-sensitive sectors like autos and financials witnessed mild selling pressure.

Indian markets opened marginally lower on Friday as investors priced in a rate cut from the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which is due at 10 a.m. 

At 9:30 a.m. IST, the Nifty 50 was down 20 points to 24,730.90, while the Sensex dropped 119 points to 81,323.09.

Broader markets, however, remained firm with the Nifty Midcap index up 0.2% and the Nifty Smallcap index rising 0.3%. 

Retail sentiment for Nifty50 on Stocktwits remained bullish ahead of the key central bank decision.

Most sectoral indices traded in the red, excluding real estate, metal, PSU banks, and oil and gas. Rate-sensitive sectors like autos and financials witnessed mild selling pressure. 

Analysts noted that the index may continue moving sideways within the current band until it makes a decisive close above 24,900.

Bajaj Finserv fell nearly 1% after promoter entities Bajaj Holdings & Investment and Jamnalal Sons launched a ₹5,828-crore block deal, offloading up to 1.94% of the company’s equity.

IndusInd Bank rose 0.6% amid reports that the Reserve Bank of India has outlined certain conditions for the Hinduja Group to infuse capital into the lender. 

Praj Industries surged 2.4% after announcing a new international assignment from Paraguay-based Enersur SA to support the development of a fully-integrated biorefinery project in South America.

Ashoka Buildcon rose 2.4% after receiving letters of intent worth ₹1,387.2 crore from Maharashtra’s Motor Vehicles Department for a 10-year intelligent traffic management system project across multiple regions.

From a technical standpoint, a SEBI-registered analyst on Stocktwits shared the trade setup. 

Prabhat Mittal pegged immediate support for the Nifty at 24,580 and resistance at 24,920, while he placed Bank Nifty support at 55,400 and resistance at 56,200.

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