Stock market today: Sensex dips over 500 points in early trade today, Nifty dips below 25k

Both indices opened the week's last day of trade in red, with Sensex dipping over 500 points to trade at 81,275.96 while Nifty dipped below 25,000 points to trade 0.76% lower at 24,821.25 as of 9:35 am.

During early trade, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Apollo Hospitals, Dr Reddy and Nestle India managed to gain marginal advantages and were top gainers, while Tata Motors was down by over 3% and Eicher Motors, Tata Steel, Maruti and Larsen and Toubro were amidst leading laggards, dipping by over 2% each.

Except for India VIX, which was up by 2.36%, all other broad market indices opened the day in red. Amongst sectoral indices, auto, IT, metal, PSU and realty indices dipped by over 1% each, while FMCG and pharma were trading in green.

Aditya Gaggar, director of Progressive Shares noted that rangebound trade ended at record levels of 25,011. The index is representing indecisiveness between the bulls and bears. In the lower timeframe, a negative divergence was spotted which indicates a trend reversal and GIFT Nifty also suggests the same; tepid opening.

"The immediate support is placed at 24,800 while a recent high of 25,078 will be considered a strong hurdle. Except for energy, all other sectors have formed different bearish candlestick patterns which implies a temporary pause in the trend. Bearish divergence in the mid and smallcap segments also indicates a pause in the overall uptrend", he continued.

Osho Krishan, Senior Analyst - Technical & Derivatives, Angel One Ltd highlighted that despite the benchmark heading for new highs, the market breadth remains restrained yesterday, with limited support from the bulls indicating a sign of timidity. The correction in the mid and small-cap indices stirred some caution and dampened the undertone. From a technical standpoint, Nifty refrained from showcasing an authoritative move and was crippled due to broad-based profit booking.

"As far as levels are concerned, 24,800 remains the crucial support zone with anticipation of buying emergence, followed by the sacrosanct support of 24,600-24,500 zone. On the higher end, 25,080-25,100 seems an intermediate obstacle, followed by the golden retracement placed at 25340 zone in the comparable period. Going forward, it is crucial to consider sectoral rotation and focus on outliers in order to outperform the market. For now, the Banking space remains muted with subdued movements, and this needs to gain traction to further strengthen the market sentiments. Hence, a brief watch is required over the developments in the banking index", explained Krishan