Today's stock market: Indian equity benchmark indices, the Nifty50 and the BSE Sensex, opened in the red on Wednesday, following India's Operation Sindoor against Pakistan's terrorist facilities. The Indian equity benchmark indices, the Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, were marginally lower, despite the fact that the pre-market session had predicted a drop in stock markets. At 9:16 AM, the Nifty50 was trading at 24,351.40, down 28 points or 0.12%. The BSE Sensex was at 80,555.33, down 86 points, or 0.11%.
In the early hours of Wednesday, India announced Operation Sindoor, which will target terrorist facilities in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The Indian Army confirmed that it had struck terror infrastructure that was used to plan and direct attacks against India.
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, says, "What stands out in "Operation Sindoor" from a market perspective is its focused and non-escalatory nature. We have to wait and see how the enemy reacts to India's precision strikes. The market is unlikely to be impacted by India's retaliatory strike, which was already known and discounted by the market. The main driver of market resilience in India has been sustained FII buying over the last 14 trading days, which has reached a total of Rs43940 crore in the cash market. FIIs are focusing on global macroeconomic factors such as the weak dollar, slower growth in the United States and China in 2025, and India's potential growth outperformance. This can help the market remain resilient. However, investors have to watch the developments in the border. There has been a significant shift in market preference towards largecaps over overvalued mid and smallcap segments. As always, FIIs are primarily purchasing large-cap stocks.This trend can continue."
Leading the way with losses of up to 1.5% each were HCL Tech, Asian Paints, Nestle India, HUL, Titan, and Sun Pharma, among other significant Sensex constituents.In contrast, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Power Grid, SBI, and IndusInd Bank had a strong start to the market.
Following the announcement that its shareholders had approved the company's proposal to split into two distinct listed entities, with separate divisions for passenger vehicles (PV) and commercial vehicles, Tata Motors shares rose by more than 4%.
Ajay Bagga, a Banking and Market Expert, told ANI, "The geopolitical risk that was looming over Indian markets has crystallized today with the Indian strikes on PoK and Pakistan-based terror camps. Indian markets will open with a negative gap, as we witnessed when the Uri and Balakot strikes were announced.
The expert predicted that future market developments would be influenced by the unfolding events in the coming days.
"The future impact on the market will be determined by whether this strike is limited to today or expands. Geopolitical risk remains elevated, and we may see more selling in Indian markets," says Bagga.
The equity markets fell on Tuesday as heightened tensions between India and Pakistan made investors wary.
"Geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan have halted the strong market rally seen over the last 15-16 days," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head-Equity Research, Kotak Securities.
Chouhan predicts Nifty may experience a drop between 200 and 400 points from market volatility but major declines require severe events beyond military engagement.
Market observers will carefully monitor the results from the US Federal Reserve's rate-setting meeting scheduled for May 7. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's commentary about inflation and growth challenges during tariff uncertainty stands to steer immediate market movements even when interest rate expectations remain steady.
The Indian stock market received ₹3,795 crore in net capital from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) on Tuesday although domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold equities worth ₹1,398 crore.
Stock values in the United States dropped twice in a row on Tuesday following ambiguous comments from President Donald Trump and Secretary Scott Bessent about future trade terms.
The expectation of US-China trade negotiations combined with investors watching for Federal Reserve decisions caused gold prices to decline on Wednesday.
