Despite falling crude oil prices and a stronger rupee, Nifty bulls are indecisive today. The BSE Sensex opened 67.52 points or 0.11% higher at 61,212, while the Nifty50 traded at 18,179, up 19 points or 0.11%.

Among Sensex stocks, L&T, Maruti, NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank were the top gainers, up around 0.5%. Dr Redyy’s, UltraTech Cement, SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and M&M also opened higher.

On the other hand, TCS, Nestle, Asian Paints, Power Grid, Kotak Bank, HCL Tech, Wipro and Reliance opened with cut prices.

Sectorally, Nifty PSU Bank rose 1.15%, and Nifty Auto advanced 0.12%. Nifty IT and Nifty Oil & Gas opened lower. The Nifty Midcap50 gained 0.06% in the broader market, while the Smallcap50 lost 0.17%.

“Market weakness is likely to persist in the near term. With the US dollar index rebounding above 108, FIIs may sell again or at least avoid aggressive buying,” said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“There are no positive triggers that could send the market sharply higher from current levels. The spread of Covid in China could affect growth in China, so crude oil and metals could weaken further. Long-term investors can take advantage of market weakness to buy banks, Telecoms, capital goods, IT and autos, and quality stocks across blue chips across sectors,” added Vijayakumar.

US markets closed lower on Monday for the third time in the past four sessions as a new wave of Covid-19 shutdowns in China rattled investors. In US markets on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.13%, the S&P 500 fell 0.39%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.09%.

In early Asian trade, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.81%, China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.75%, and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.18%.

The Indian rupee was down 0.2% at 81.68 against the dollar in early trade on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, fell 0.27% to the 107.54 level.
Brent crude futures for January delivery rose 0.53% to $87.81 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 0.37% to $80.34 a barrel.