The Indian stock indices began trading on Friday with a small gain after engaging in a third straight session of selling.
Sensex was just 0.1 per cent higher at 66,297.35 points, while Nifty was 0.04 per cent higher at 19,750.45 points. So far this week, they have however fallen over 2 per cent on cumulative basis.
The indices fell precipitously on Thursday after the US central bank hinted that it might raise rates again soon if necessary to combat inflation, even though it kept them unchanged at its September meeting.
“The Fed’s hawkish pause message has created a global risk-averse sentiment in global equity markets,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Rising global crude oil prices and subsequent strengthening of the US dollar also weighed on the financial markets.
Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said, “Market fell by 2.2 per cent in the last three days amid profit booking at higher levels. Uncertain global cues and persistent selling by FIIs are likely to keep markets under pressure in the near term. It would be better to prefer defensive sectors for some time until the market stabilizes.”