Nifty, Sensex open flat on Friday, Nifty Oil & gas index surge, pressure to remain due to FPI outflows

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], January 17 (ANI): The pressure in the Indian stock markets returned on Friday morning as both indices opened almost flat in the red.
The Nifty 50 index opened at 23,277.10 points with a decline of -34.70 points or -0.15 per cent, while the BSE Sensex opened marginally higher at 77,069.19 points with a gain of 26.37 points or 0.03 per cent.
Experts noted that FPI selling is continuously creating pressure on the indices. Additionally, the upcoming oath of Donald Trump is expected to make markets more volatile, as his first executive orders will be closely watched to assess follow-up actions on tariffs and taxes.
Ajay Bagga Banking and Market Expert told ANI that "FPI selling continues as the biggest challenge to Indian markets. The Trump Inauguration looms as the most important market moving event. Expect market volatility around that as the first Trump Executive orders will be watched closely to see how much follow up happens on his tariffs, tax, regulations and mass deportation of illegal immigrants. Asian markets are soft this morning and expect sideways markets ahead of Jan 20th."
In the sectoral indices, Nifty Oil and Gas surged by more than 1.47 per cent, while Nifty FMCG, Nifty Media, and Nifty Pharma gained modestly. Other sectoral indices were in the red, experiencing selling pressure.
In the Nifty 50 list, 20 stocks gained while 30 declined at the time of filing this report. Reliance Industries surged by more than 2.49 per cent, emerging as the top gainer in Nifty.
"Although the daily regime is bearish, one needs to note that the Monday lows took support at the weekly Ichimoku cloud. The next seven days represent an important time window, but bulls will really need to get past the immediate hurdle at 23471 to extend the advance. Any failure to do that and ideally take out 23820 on a daily close-basis over the next few sessions will mean that the rebound was merely the result of short-covering than big-money accumulation" said Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research, Axis Securities.
On the quarterly earnings front, Wipro, Jio Financial Services, Tech Mahindra, SBI Life Insurance Company, Indian Hotels Company, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, Ramkrishna Forgings, and Supreme Petrochem are among the major companies set to announce their third-quarter results today.
Other Asian markets also remained under pressure on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index down by 0.88 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng down by 0.10 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI index down by 0.26 per cent, and the Taiwan Weighted index also in negative territory. (ANI)