Stock Market Opening Bell: Sensex slips 54 pts, Nifty down after positive start; Bajaj Finance tanks over 6%

Stock Market Opening Bell: Indian equity markets opened on a positive note but quickly gave up early gains amid selling pressure in financial stocks. The BSE Sensex, which opened 136 points higher, slipped into the red to quote at 83,482, down 54 points or 0.06 per cent. The Nifty50 also turned weak, trading at 25,561, down 13 points or 0.05 per cent from the previous close.

Bajaj Finance slumped over 6 per cent, emerging as the biggest drag on the Sensex. Other major laggards included Bajaj Finserv, Tata Motors, Power Grid, Tata Steel, Kotak Bank, Asian Paints, SBI, NTPC, and Tech Mahindra.

On the other hand, M&M gained around 1 per cent, while BEL, TCS, HCL Tech, Trent, Infosys, and ICICI Bank lent some support to the indices.

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In the broader markets, performance was mixed — the Nifty MidCap index edged down 0.03 per cent, while the Nifty SmallCap index added 0.11 per cent. Sectorally, financial stocks weighed on sentiment with the Nifty Financial Services index falling 0.7 per cent and the Nifty PSU Bank index down 0.5 per cent.