Nifty and Sensex extended their losing streak to a fifth session, weighed down by weakness in banking and FMCG stocks. Sentiment soured after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hinted at only two rate cuts in 2025, scaling back earlier projections of four. Bucking the trend initially, IT stocks also traded half a percent lower despite Accenture's stronger-than-expected earnings.

In the morning, the Sensex was down 204.20 points or 0.26 percent at 79,013.85, and the Nifty was down 0.22 percent at 23,899.30. About 1,748 shares advanced, 838 shares declined, and 100 shares unchanged.

"The recent fall in markets has factored in the negative news from the US Fed and the pain is over as investors are digesting this news," says Aishvarya Dadheech, Founder and CIO of Fident Asset Management in a conversation with Moneycontrol. "The next big trigger is the Q3 and Accenture's positive surprise could raise hopes of a decent quarter," he added.

The Nifty IT index slipped as profit booking set in after an initial gain of nearly 1 percent, driven by advances in TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and Coforge. The rally was fueled by Accenture's upbeat quarterly revenue and guidance upgrade. Optimism over Accenture’s revised outlook had also lifted Infosys and Wipro’s American Depository Receipts (ADRs) on the NYSE, which jumped 2-3 percent overnight.

Nifty Auto rallied 0.7 percent led by gains in Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Eicher, and Hero MotoCorp. From the oil and gas packs, GAIL, ONGC, and IOCL were the top gainers.

Losers included, Nifty Bank and FMCG were the major laggards falling up to 0.5 percent, NSE data showed. Major lenders like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and SBI dragged the index lower. On the other hand, analysts remain bearish on FMCG due to a sharp slowdown in consumption.

The Nifty mid-small cap indices mirrored weak trends with losses of 0.3 and 0.4 percent, respectively. According to Ruchit Jain, Vice President of Technical Research at Motilal Oswal, the activity in this segment is largely stock-specific, with third-quarter earnings expected to shape the trajectory in the months ahead.

Overall, Jain noted a cautious near-term sentiment driven by key global factors, including the US Federal Reserve's commentary and a bearish stance by foreign institutional investors in the cash market. To be sure, FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs 4,225 crore on December 19, while domestic institutional investors purchased equities worth Rs 3,943 crore.

As for individual names, telecom operator Bharti Airtel said it prepaid Rs 3,626 crore to the Department of Telecom, clearing all its liabilities for the spectrum it had acquired in 2016. With this, Airtel has now prepaid all its spectrum dues with interest costs higher than 8.65 percent. Airtel has prepaid Rs 28,320 crore of spectrum liabilities in 2024.

Battery major Amara Raja gained 2 percent after it said that Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) will equip its domestic product lineup with AMARON’s AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) battery technology. The batteries will be used as SLI (Starting, Lighting, and Ignition) batteries and will be procured under HMIL’s existing procurement agreement with Amara Raja Energy & Mobility.

Sagility India, a business process management (BPM) company, rallied over 4 percent after international brokerage Jefferies initiated coverage with a 'buy' rating and a target price of Rs 52 per share. Analysts noted that Sagility is recognized for its deep domain expertise in the US healthcare sector, positioning it as a key player in this space.

International Gemmological Institute shares listed on the NSE today, commanding a premium of 22 percent over its issue price. This follows a bumper subscription of 34 times to its Rs 4,225-crore public issue in the primary market.

"After a negative opening, Nifty can find support at 23,850 followed by 23,700 and 23,600. On the higher side, 24,100 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 24,200 and 24,300. The charts of Bank Nifty indicate that it may get support at 51,200 followed by 50,900 and 50,500. If the index advances further, 51,900 would be the initial key resistance, followed by 52,200 and 52,500," Hardik Matalia of Choice Broking said.

TCS, Infosys, Adani Enterprises, Hero MotoCorp, and NTPC were the top gainers on the Nifty. Major laggards included Axis Bank, L&T, ITC, JSW Steel and Cipla.