• Indian stock market opens flat, awaiting US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision.
• Market trends negative with 882 stocks in green and 1,306 in red on the NSE.
• Top losers include Tata Motors, Power Grid, L&T, while top gainers include Sun Pharma, HCLTech, Tech Mahindra.
• Performance of Indian stock market largely influenced by US Federal Reserve decisions, particularly on interest rates.

The Indian stock market commenced on a flat note on Wednesday, with investors eagerly anticipating the US Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates. At approximately 9:33 am, the Sensex was trading at 80,651.44, a decline of 33.01 points or 0.04 per cent, while the Nifty was trading at 24,328.75, a decline of 7.25 points or 0.03 per cent. The market trend remained negative, with 882 stocks trading in green and 1,306 stocks in red on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

The global markets' focus will be on the Fed's decision on Wednesday (US time). The market has priced in a 25 bp rate cut. Experts have stated that the attention will be on the Fed's commentary. A significant trend in the Indian market is the outperformance of the broader market where good results are getting appreciated by the market and there is no concern of FII selling.

The Nifty Bank was down 152.85 points or 0.29 per cent at 52,681.95. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 58,900.55 after dropping 201.35 points or 0.34 per cent. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 19,346.40 after dropping 52.05 points or 0.27 per cent.

Market Performance and Key Players

In the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, Power Grid, L&T, Maruti, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, SBI and NTPC were the top losers. Sun Pharma, HCLTech, Tech Mahindra, TCS, ITC, Bharti Airtel and M&M were the top gainers.

In the Asian markets, except for Japan and Bangkok, the markets of China, Hong Kong, Seoul and Jakarta were trading in green. In the US stock markets, the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 ended 0.32 per cent and 0.39 per cent lower respectively, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.61 per cent down in the previous trading session.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 6,409.86 crore in India on December 17, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 2,706.48 crore on the same day. According to experts, the near-term market construct has turned weak with FIIs turning sellers on rallies.

US Federal Reserve's Impact on Indian Market

"The trend of FII buying in early December has proved to be, as feared, a flash in the pan. Yesterday's massive FII sell figure of Rs 6410 crores in the cash market indicates that more selling is in store on market bounces, they added.

Benchmark stock market indices opened lower on Wednesday after having incurred heavy losses in the past two trading sessions as cautious sentiment prevailed among investors. The benchmarks were dragged by index heavyweights Reliance Industries, TCS, Bharti Airtel, and HDFC Bank, as investors remained cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve's December 18 meeting. Broader markets, however, outperformed the benchmark with Nifty Midcap and Nifty Smallcap down 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

The U.S. Economy shrank from April through June for a second straight quarter, contracting at a 0.9 per cent annual pace and raising fears that the nation may be approaching a recession. The decline that the Commerce Department reported Thursday in the gross domestic product the broadest gauge of the economy followed a 1.6 per cent annual drop from January through March. The report comes at a critical time. Consumers and businesses have been struggling under the weight of punishing inflation and higher borrowing costs.