New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS): The market has been range bound in recent days due to bouts of selling and buying, says V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

During the last two days, FIIs sold equity worth Rs 6,993 crore in the cash market while DIIs bought equity worth Rs 5,173 crore. The trend of FII selling is likely to continue since the 10-year US bond yield is high at 4.24 per cent. The trend of DII buying too is likely to continue since the flows into the DIIs continue to be robust, he said.

The global market construct continues to be favourable with the mother market US remaining resilient with S&P 500 at record highs.

Pockets of overvaluation in the broader market continue to be a worry, he said.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities said share indices in the Asia-Pacific region were trading in positive, boosted by overnight gains on Wall Street as the US Retail Sales data declined more than expected in January, giving some relief to investors after hotter-than-expected inflation print.

The Indian government has revised its windfall gains tax on crude petroleum with effect from February 15. As per the revisions, Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED) on crude petroleum will increase to Rs 3,300 per tonne, from Rs 3,200 per tonne earlier; while tax on diesel will increase to Rs 1.50 a litre from zero. Passengers carried by domestic airlines in India during January 2024 stood at 1.31 crore as against 1.25 crore during the corresponding period of the previous year registering an annual growth and a monthly growth of 4.69 percent, he said.

BSE Sensex is trading at 72,406.55 points up 356.17 points or 0.49 per cent. Auto stocks are up with Maruti gaining 3 per cent, Tata Motors, M&M up by 2 per cent.