Stock Market: Indices Trading Flat, Sensex Down 32 Points, Nifty At 19,700. IT Stocks Drag, Glenmark Slips 4%

Stock Market Update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, LT, SBI, Maruti Suzuki, M&M were some of the early gainers. On the downside, Wipro, PowerGrid, Sun Pharma emerged as some of the major losers.

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, started Friday trade in red tracking weak global cues. At 10.00 AM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 66,198, down by over 32 points. On the other hand, the Nifty declined 33 points and was trading at 19,707. 

On the 30-share Sensex platform, LT, SBI, Maruti Suzuki, M&M, and Bajaj Finserv were some of the early gainers. On the downside, Wipro, PowerGrid, Sun Pharma, and Tata Steel emerged as some of the major losers.

Among individual stocks on the Nifty50, Cipla and Wipro dropped over 2 per cent, followed by Dr Reddy, PowerGrid, and Tata Steel. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki, LT, M&M, and SBI became the biggest gainers. 

In the border market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were up 0.2 per cent each.

Sectorwise, while auto and financial shares lifted the market, weakness in big IT stocks dragged it into negative territory. Stock in focus, Glenmark saw a 4 per cent decline, while Glenmark Life Sciences (GLS) remained unchanged in trading. This follows Nirma's announcement of a definitive agreement to acquire 75 per cent stake in GLS for Rs 5,651 crore.

In the previous trade session on Thursday, the Sensex declined 570 points or 0.85 per cent to 66,230.24, while the Nifty shed 159.05 points or 0.8 per cent to settle at 19,742.35. 

Overnight, Wall Street saw a significant downturn, with the S&P 500 suffering its worst day since March, losing 1.6 per cent of its value, as an AP report. This sharp decline was triggered by expectations that US interest rates would remain elevated well into the next year. The US Federal Reserve's indication of a smaller-than-expected interest rate cut for the next year compounded the market's concerns. The high-growth tech sector, including Amazon, Nvidia, and Tesla, bore the brunt of the losses, causing the Nasdaq composite to drop 1.8 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also declined by 370 points, or 1.1 per cent.

Asian markets on Friday kicked off the day with a sluggish start, mirroring the overnight declines seen in US markets. Notably, Japan's Nikkei experienced the most significant decline in the region, dropping by approximately 1 per cent, all in anticipation of the upcoming rate decision by the Bank of Japan. Meanwhile, the Kospi index was also exhibited weakness during early trading. Markets in Taiwan slipped 0.4 per cent and Shanghai indices were trading flat.

The Indian currency opened at 82.83 against the US dollar, with Thursday's closing rate being 83.09.

On the commodity front, Brent futures edged up by 21 cents, or 0.2 per cent, reaching $93.51 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) futures increased by 23 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $89.86.