Stock market today: Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, the Indian equity benchmark indices, opened in green on Wednesday. While Nifty50 was above 24,550, BSE Sensex was up over 250 points. At 9:16 AM, Nifty50 was trading at 24,587.55, up 100 points or 0.41%. BSE Sensex was at 80,512.92, up 277 points or 0.35%.Market observers anticipate a period of consolidation, backed by domestic investment flows, whilst monitoring international developments regarding US tariffs and upcoming US-Russia diplomatic discussions later this week.VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited says, “The significant recent underperformance of the Indian market deserves a close look. Nifty has been setting new lows consecutively for the last six weeks while most other markets -developed and emerging- are doing well. This underperformance is despite the massive DII buying aided by robust inflows into mutual funds. In August, so far, FIIs have sold equity for Rs 18620 crores through the exchanges. This FII selling has been completely eclipsed by the massive DII buying of Rs 46272 crores. Yet Nifty has drifted down from 24768 to 24487. Why? Trump’s harsh tariffs and the straining of relations between US and India have impacted the market sentiments and, consequently, shorts have piled up pulling the market down. The tepid earnings growth, elevated valuations and modest projection of 8 to 10% earnings growth for FY26 have emboldened the bears to increase the short positions. A sudden reversal of sentiments can lead to short covering and sharp recovery in the market. The Trump-Putin talks may provide a positive trigger but there is no certainty about it.“This is the right time for asset allocation. Investors with a long-term investment horizon of 3 years and above can accumulate fairly valued largecaps in banking, telecom, capital goods, aviation and select midcap IT. The risk-reward in these segments is favourable for investment.”US markets largely improved on Tuesday, with indices reaching new peaks following inflation data that indicated minimal effects from President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The S&P 500 increased by 1.1%, exceeding its previous record, whilst the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 483 points (1.1%). The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.4% to achieve a fresh peak.Asian equities index advanced 0.6%, supported by the Nikkei-225’s new record in Japan. The US dollar remained stable following previous session losses. Treasury yields increased slightly with the 10-year rate reaching 4.30%.Oil prices stabilised on Wednesday, following Tuesday’s decline, as industry reports indicated rising US crude stockpiles, suggesting the end of summer demand. Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 3,398 crore net on Tuesday. Domestic institutional investors were net purchasers at Rs 3,508 crore.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market and other asset classes given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)