Indian stock benchmarks opened deep in negative territory Friday, pressured by soft global cues and heavy selling in metals. At around 9:19 AM, Sensex plunged 444 points or 0.54% to 82,100 levels, with Nifty down 157 points or 0.62% at 25,261.
Metals and commodities bore the brunt, leading Nifty Metal and Nifty Commodities to top the losers’ chart. Red flags waved over IT, media, energy, PSE, realty, PSU banks, and defense too. Healthcare, pharma, and FMCG stood as the sole green havens.
In Sensex constituents, Maruti Suzuki, Indigo, Titan, ITC, and Sun Pharma led the gainers’ tally. The loser list was longer: Tata Steel, Infosys, HCL Tech, TCS, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, Eternal, BEL, Kotak Mahindra Bank, M&M, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, and Axis Bank.
No segment was spared, as midcap and smallcap indices mirrored the largecap weakness. Nifty Midcap 100 lost 579.75 points (0.99%) to settle at 57,961.25, and Nifty Smallcap 100 dropped 182.70 points (1.09%) to 16,642.30.
Asian peers mostly declined: Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok in red; Seoul, Jakarta in black. US indices split Thursday, Dow +0.11%, Nasdaq -0.72%.
Commodities tumbled: gold -1.99% at $5,250/oz, silver -3.50% at $110/oz. WTI crude -1.71% to $64.31/bbl, Brent -1.60% to $68.51/bbl.
As trading progresses, focus shifts to potential support levels and whether this dip presents buying opportunities or signals deeper troubles ahead.