Frontline indices Nifty 50 and Sensex opened with weakness on April 17, tracking cues from Wall Street overnight as US Federal Reserve Chairperson Jerome Powell's comments impacted sentiment.

At 10:11 am, the Sensex was down 208.85 points or 0.27 percent at 76,835.44, and the Nifty was down 90.15 points or 0.38 percent at 23,347.05. About 1598 shares advanced, 1450 shares declined, and 139 shares remained unchanged.

The Nifty IT index crashed two percent in early trade, dragged by Wipro, which reported its Q4 earnings and cut its forward revenue guidance, leading to brokerages rushing to downgrade the stock.

Further, the overnight sell-off seen in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has led to weakness in the IT gauge, as investors turned cautious amid tariff concerns.

Regardless of the negative sentiment surrounding global markets, Indian equities have continued to outperform. "India is the only large market that has erased all losses incurred after April 2nd has closing above the pre-April 2nd level. What accounts for this outperformance? One, India, which is a domestic consumption-driven economy, will be one of the least impacted by the tariff crisis. Two, the market is discounting the possibility of a bilateral trade agreement between US and India," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments said.

Further, investors will be closely watching Infosys, Jio Financial, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank shares ahead of their quarterly earnings report, which will be revealed today or tomorrow, April 18.

Fed Chair Powell's comments

Federal Reserve Chair person Jerome Powell said that the US Federal Reserve will not intervene to calm equity markets down.

The Fed chair said he expects inflation to rise because of Trump’s tariffs, which will likely also put the labor market under pressure. Powell and other Fed policymakers have expressed support for holding rates steady as they try to sort out the impact of the administration’s trade policies.

The Fed chair said that policymakers would balance their dual responsibilities of fostering maximum employment and stable prices, “keeping in mind that, without price stability, we cannot achieve the long periods of strong labor market conditions that benefit all Americans.”

Wall Street sinks

Following the comments from the Fed chair, Wall Street was hit was a sharp sell-off. The Dow Jones fell 700 points, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell 2.2 percent and 3 percent respectively led by a sell-off in Nvidia and other chipmakers on reports of further curbs on Chinese exports.

Asian markets gain

However, defying US markets’ sentiment, Asian indices traded in the green in early trading on Thursday morning. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 started the day 0.59 percent higher, while the broader Topix index added 0.26 percent.

In South Korea, the Kospi index increased 0.41 percent at the open while the small-cap Kosdaq moved up 1.02 percent.

FIIs extend buying

After their largest single-day net buying on Tuesday, on April 16, foreign investors continued to be net buyers while domestic investors were net sellers. FIIs net bought shares worth Rs 3,936 crore and DIIs net sold shares worth Rs 2,513.

Technical Levels

On the downside, the 23,300 level serves as immediate support, followed by strong support near 23,000. On the upside, 23,500 remains a key resistance, with a major hurdle around 23,800. A sustained close above these levels would be essential to confirm a bullish trend and could open the door for higher targets, said Hardik Matalia, Derivative Analyst, Choice Broking.

Derivatives Positioning

Derivatives data reflects a guarded sentiment with a slightly bearish bias. Call writers retained the upper hand, outpacing put writing and maintaining a grip on upside levels.

The 24,000 strike saw substantial call writing, with open interest swelling to 1.12 crore contracts, marking it as a formidable resistance zone. On the flip side, aggressive put writing at the 23,000 strike (93.42 lakh contracts) reflects bullish confidence at lower levels.

"While bulls are gradually accumulating positions, clear conviction is still in the making. The 23,500–23,700 region remains a pressure zone for now. Interestingly, call writing is inching toward higher strikes, subtly hinting at improving sentiment," said Dhupesh Dhameja, Derivatives Research Analyst, SAMCO Securities.