Mumbai: India’s benchmark indices opened lower on Friday, tracking weak global cues as fading expectations of a US Federal Reserve rate cut and continued selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) weighed on sentiment, even as counting began for the Bihar Assembly election results.

At 9.25 am, the Sensex was down 292 points, or 0.35 per cent, at 84,185, while the Nifty slipped 85 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 25,794.

In contrast to the benchmarks, broader markets held firm. The Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.27 per cent, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 edged up 0.15 per cent.

Sectoral trends on the NSE were mixed. FMCG (down 0.28 per cent), IT (down 0.94 per cent), Auto (down 0.35 per cent) and Metal (down 0.54 per cent) were the major drags, while Nifty Media emerged as the top performer, gaining 0.72 per cent.

Analysts noted that while market reaction to the Bihar results may influence sentiment through the day, the trend over the medium to long term will be driven by fundamentals, particularly earnings growth. With strong GDP prospects and improving corporate performance, they said, the outlook remains largely positive. They pegged immediate resistance for the Nifty at 25,950 and 26,000, with support at 25,700 and 25,750.

Asia-Pacific markets slipped in early trade, mirroring overnight losses on Wall Street as US tech stocks extended their decline and expectations of Fed rate cuts weakened.

On Thursday, US indices closed sharply lower: the Nasdaq fell 2.29 per cent, the S&P 500 dropped 1.66 per cent, and the Dow shed 1.65 per cent.

Across Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1 per cent, Shenzhen slid 1.09 per cent, Japan’s Nikkei dropped 1.65 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1 per cent, and South Korea’s Kospi declined 2 per cent.

On the domestic front, FIIs offloaded equities worth ₹384 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers, picking up shares worth ₹3,092 crore.

IANS