Stock Markets Open Lower, Sensex Starts Trade At 85,388, Nifty Tests 26,200

In the pre-open session, Sensex was trading above 85,300 or 288 points lower and the Nifty traded 69 points lower at 26,122.

Notably, the Gift Nifty was trading at 26,157 or 4 points higher at around 8:48 AM.

Source : ABPLIVE AI

The Indian benchmark indices on Friday opened lower as the Sensex opened 244 points lower at 85,388.02 and the Nifty opened at 26,116.85 or over 75 points lower.

In the 30-share BSE Sensex, the top gainers included stocks such as Mahindra & Mahindra, TMPV, Maruti, Kotak Bank and Titan. Meanwhile, the laggards included stocks like Ultra Cement, ITC, Bharti Airtel and Sun Pharmaceuticals.

In the broader markets the Nifty Microcap 250 fell 1.13 per cent as volatility remained high. Sectorally, Nifty auto rose 0.03 per cent

In the pre-open session, Sensex was trading above 85,300 or 288 points lower and the Nifty traded 69 points lower at 26,122 around 9:04 AM.

Notably, the Gift Nifty was trading at 26,157 or 4 points higher at around 8:48 AM.

Foreign Investors, Global Markets

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Wednesday. They bought equities worth Rs 1,580.72 crore in the previous trade, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) also bought stocks worth Rs 1,360.27 crore on Wednesday.

Asian markets opened on a weaker note, with South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225, Shanghai’s SSE Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index all trading in the red. The Kospi slipped more than 3 per cent, while the Nikkei 225 shed over 2 per cent in early trade.

The downbeat sentiment followed a sharp sell-off on Wall Street on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite plunged 2.15 per cent, the S&P 500 dropped 1.56 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.84 per cent. Volatility has surged, with the Nasdaq, considered the benchmark for AI-driven stocks, ending 2.15 per cent lower after crashing 4.4 per cent from its intra-day high.

What Do Experts Say?

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said the current market swings indicate that heightened volatility is likely to persist. According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Thursday, picking up equities worth Rs 283.65 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased shares valued at Rs 824.46 crore.