Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Dec 15: Indian stock markets started Monday on a soft note, tracking subdued global cues that weighed on investor sentiment. The Sensex slipped around 280 points in early trade to 84,989, down 0.33%, while the Nifty edged lower to 25,966, a drop of 81 points or 0.31%.

Market experts pointed out support for the Nifty near 25,850–25,900, with resistance at 26,150–26,200. “A decisive close above 26,200 is necessary to revive bullish momentum toward 26,500. Until then, the index is likely to remain range-bound with a negative bias,” analysts said.

Heavyweights dragged the benchmarks down in early trading. Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra, Trent, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, TCS, Titan, Maruti Suzuki, and Bajaj Finance declined up to 1.4%. Only a few counters, including Asian Paints, Bharat Electronics, Hindustan Unilever, and UltraTech Cement, managed to stay in the green.

The broader market mirrored the cautious mood, with the Nifty MidCap down 0.40% and the Nifty SmallCap falling 0.15%. Realty stocks bore the brunt of selling pressure, with the Nifty Realty index dropping 0.8%, while auto and pharma shares also slipped, with their indices down around 0.6% each.

Experts advised investors to adopt a cautious buy-on-dips strategy near support levels with tight stop-losses. “Aggressive long positions should be avoided until key resistance levels are breached, while partial profit booking on pullbacks remains prudent in this range-bound and volatile environment,” they noted.