Indian equity markets opened sharply lower on Friday, with the Sensex falling over 800 points and the Nifty slipping below the 23,100 mark amid weak global cues and selling pressure in banking and auto stocks.
At around 9:20 AM, the Sensex was down nearly 799 points at 74,474, while the Nifty declined over 245 points to trade near 23,061. Market breadth remained weak, with a majority of stocks trading in the red.
Banking stocks were among the top losers, with the Nifty Bank index shedding around 1.5% in early trade. Bank of Baroda led the decline, falling over 3%, followed by Canara Bank and Punjab National Bank, which dropped nearly 3% each. Union Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank also traded lower, contributing to the sectoral weakness.
Auto and financial heavyweights further weighed on the indices. Stocks such as Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro and InterGlobe Aviation were among key laggards in early trade.
On the other hand, IT stocks provided some support to the market. The BSE IT index rose around 0.6%, led by gains in Oracle Financial Services Software, which surged over 5%, along with TCS, HCL Technologies, Infosys and Wipro trading in positive territory.
In stock-specific action, Azad Engineering gained attention after signing an eight-year agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, while Infosys remained in focus following its acquisition announcements in the US healthcare and insurance technology space.
Overall, the market continues to remain under pressure due to global uncertainties, rising crude prices, and cautious investor sentiment, with sectoral divergence clearly visible between banking and IT stocks.
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