Stock market today: Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, the Indian equity benchmark indices, opened flat in trade on Thursday. While Nifty50 was near 25,475, BSE Sensex was above 83,550. At 9:18 AM, Nifty50 was trading at 25,475.90. BSE Sensex was at 83,570.32, up 34 points or 0.041%.Indian markets are expected to be cautious, awaiting the finalisation of the India-US mini trade deal, which could influence immediate market trends.VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited says, “Market is unlikely to break the narrow range in which it has been trading for more than a month now. Resilience of the global markets and sustained fund flows into Indian markets have the potential to support the market at the bottom end of the range. A clear break out of the upper range of Nifty 25500 may happen on positive news of a trade deal between US and India. But this is partly discounted by the market and, therefore, will not be sufficient to sustain the rally well beyond Nifty 25500.” “With the results season kicking in from today there will be lots of stock-specific action in response to results. Expectations from the IT sector are limited. However, midcap IT is likely to post good results and positive commentary. Banks, despite strong balance sheets and abundant liquidity are struggling with low credit growth. Outperformers in the banking segment will be those who post good credit growth. In autos M&M and Eicher have the potential to outperform.“US stock indices advanced on Wednesday after Federal Reserve minutes suggested that inflationary effects from President Donald Trump’s tariffs would not prevent interest rate reductions this year. The technology-focused Nasdaq led the gains as Nvidia momentarily achieved a $4 trillion market value.Asian equities displayed varied performance at opening, with Bitcoin maintaining its record levels from Wednesday. Wall Street’s positive momentum continued despite ongoing tariff discussions.Gold prices increased on Thursday, influenced by US President Donald Trump’s recent tariff announcements. Investors remained attentive to trade discussions, whilst the dollar’s slight decline provided additional support.Oil prices decreased on Thursday as market participants interpreted Trump’s latest tariff announcements as potentially detrimental to global economic growth and resource demand.FIIs’ position in the futures market increased from a net short of Rs 70,513 crore on Tuesday to Rs 75,705 crore on Wednesday.(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)