The benchmarks Nifty 50 and Sensex opened the session on October 17 on a tumultuous note, moving back and forth between gains and losses. It was sharp losses in automobile stocks, especially Bajaj Auto, that dragged the benchmark indices into the red soon after opening. On the other hand, around 1 percent gains in heavyweights like Infosys, Reliance Industries, and ICICI Bank cushioned the market from a deeper dive.

At 09.42 am, the Sensex was down 180.07 points or 0.22 percent at 81,321.29, and the Nifty was down 105.00 points or 0.42 percent at 24,866.30.

The market has been in a state of consolidation for the past few weeks, largely amid a lack of upside triggers, uncertainty over China's stimulus plans, FII selling, and geopolitical tensions.  V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services feels the consolidation around Nifty's 25,000 level is likely to be extended with bouts of FII selling and DII buying. "The re-emergence of outperformance of small-caps driven by liquidity is again becoming a cause of concern. Coming days will witness lots of stock-specific action in response to Q2 results," he added.

Vijayakumar anticipates a positive reaction to financial sector earnings and views IT stocks as attractive buy-on-dip opportunities. Coincidently, financial and information technology names on the Nfity 50 fared better in trade today.

Meanwhile, a slew of blockbuster quarterly earnings are also lined up for the day, which has also kept investors in wait-and-watch mode. Names like Infosys, Wipro, Axis Bank, and Nestle India are due to detail their Q2 earnings reports through the day.

Looking head, Sameet Chavan, Head Research, Technical and Derivative - Angel One believes a break below 24,900 for the Nfity could open doors for further weakness, potentially testing the 24,700 level. On the upside, he sees resistance around 25,100 followed by the 25,250 level, and feels that only a move beyond this range might spark some bullish momentum on the hourly charts.

"Until then, traders are advised to avoid aggressive bets and be selective. It’s also crucial to monitor global factors closely, as they could influence market direction ahead of the weekly expiry," Chavan added.

Among sectoral indices, Nifty Auto was the worst hit as it tanked over 2 percent, dragged by a sharp selloff in Bajaj Auto followed by M&M, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, and Eicher Motors. Bajaj Auto dived 8 percent after reporting lower-than-expected Q2 numbers, which also rubbed off on other auto majors, dragging them down 2-4 percent. Not just that, the five major auto stocks also topped the chart of laggards on the Nifty 50 today.

Aside from autos, Nifty Realty, another major loser, was down over a percent. Among gainers, Nifty Metal, Nifty Pharma, Nifty IT, and Nifty PSU Bank were all up 0.1-0.5 percent. On the Nifty 50, Hindalco, L&T, Infosys, and SBI were up over a percent each.