Mumbai, Jan 23: The Indian benchmark indices continued to tread with caution on Thursday amid mixed Q3 earnings as selloff in oil and gas and banking stocks continued.

In the early trade, Nifty fell 0.28 per cent to 23,090, while the 30-stock Sensex declined 0.27 per cent to 76,202. However, gains on both the exchanges were seen immediately after.

Ten out of the 12 sectors on the NSE declined, with Nifty FMCG and Nifty Oil and Gas fell the most. Nifty IT and Media went up in early trade.

Six out of the 20 sectors compiled by BSE advanced, with IT and Focused IT rising the most.

HDFC Bank saw marginal rise in its stock at Rs 1,671.95 after posting strong Q3 results, while ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Larsen & Toubro and State Bank of India weighed on the Nifty 50.

Brokerages have cut their earnings estimate for HDFC Bank, accounting for slower loan growth, but remain positive on the lender after it delivered a strong quarter performance in a tough macroeconomic environment.

According to market watchers, the NSE Nifty 50 is set to test key levels with immediate resistance seen at 23,300 and a breakout above which can propel the index toward 23,600–23,800.

On the downside, 23,000 will serve as immediate support, with a breach potentially dragging the index to 22,800.

The domestic markets experienced a highly volatile session on Wednesday. Selling pressure from higher levels dragged the Nifty index near the previous day's low. However, buying activity from lower levels in the later session helped the market recover, leading to a close around the 23,150 mark.

Global markets traded on a positive note, but foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers, raising concerns about the sustainability of the upward momentum.

Stocks in the Asia-Pacific traded mixed following a Wall Street rally driven by optimism over mega artificial intelligence (AI) plans by US President Donald Trump.

The FIIs extended their selling on the 14th day as they offloaded equities worth Rs 4,026 crore on January 22. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 3,500 crore on the same day.

(IANS)

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