Mumbai, Dec 20 : The Indian stock market opened flat on Friday as the hawkish stance from the US Fed began to fade away. Buying was seen in auto, media and energy sectors in Nifty.

The negative market reaction to the recent US Fed comments was not seen for long term and a large cap-led recovery is expected in the near future, said experts.

At around 9:32 am, Sensex was trading at 79,122.61 after declining 95.44 points or 0.12 per cent, while the Nifty was trading at 23,932.10 after declining 19.60 points or 0.08 per cent.

The market trend remained positive. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 992 stocks were trading in green, while 694 stocks were in red.

Nifty Bank was down 153.10 points or 0.30 per cent at 51,422.60. Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 58,763.70 after gaining 207.45 points or 0.35 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 19,227.60 after adding 94.50 points or 0.49 per cent.

On the sectoral front, selling was seen in PSU Bank, Financial service, FMCG and metal sectors.

In the Sensex pack, Axis Bank, ITC, JSW Steel, Power Grid, M&M, Ultra Tech Cement and L&T were the top losers. While TCS, Infosys, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top gainers.

The Dow Jones closed at 42,342.24 after gaining 0.04 per cent. The S&P 500 dropped 0.09 per cent to 5,867.10 and the Nasdaq declined 0.10 per cent to close at 19,372.77 .

In the Asian markets, the markets of Hong Kong, China and Japan were trading in green while Jakarta, Bangkok and Seoul were trading in red.

According to experts, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) buying witnessed in early December is getting reversed now with this week's selling reaching Rs 12,229 crore. This change in FII strategy is getting reflected in market trends too, with largecaps, particularly financials, coming under pressure due to FII selling.

"This trend is unlikely to sustain and, therefore, retail investors can adopt a strategy opposite to the FII strategy. Quality largecaps will soon bounce back," they added.

FIIs sold equities worth Rs 4,224.92 crore on December 19, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 3,943.24 crore on the same day.

/IANS