Stock Market Today: Sensex slips 1% below 78,000, Nifty down at 24,200

Stock Market Today: Indian equity benchmarks opened weak on Thursday, April 23, tracking cautious global cues.

The BSE Sensex fell 782.16 points, or 1.00 per cent, to 77,734.33 at 9:15 am. The index opened at 77,983.66, lower than its previous close of 78,516.49.

The NSE Nifty 50 declined 175.75 points, or 0.72 per cent, to 24,202.35. The index opened at the same level, compared with its previous close of 24,378.10.

Among Sensex constituents, Mahindra & Mahindra, IndiGo, Eternal, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, and ICICI Bank emerged as the top losers in early trade. On the other hand, Trent, Power Grid, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and TCS managed to trade in the green.

Broader markets under pressure

The broader market showed mild weakness. The Nifty Midcap 100 index declined 0.27 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 traded flat with a negative bias, indicating cautious sentiment beyond frontline stocks.

Sectoral indices mostly in red

Selling pressure was broad-based across sectors. Nifty Auto, Financial Services, and Consumer Durables indices fell over 1 per cent each. Nifty Bank, FMCG, IT, Metal, Realty, and Chemicals also traded lower in early deals.

Among thematic indices, the Nifty India Tourism index was the worst hit.

Volatility rises

The India Volatility Index (VIX) jumped 4.5 per cent to 19.12, reflecting rising nervousness among investors. The index was up 3.16 per cent at 18.9 as of 9:36 am.

Q4 results in focus today

Several companies are set to announce their March quarter earnings on Thursday. These include Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, Adani Energy Solutions, Aurum PropTech, BlueStone Jewellery and Lifestyle, Choice International, Cyient, CIE Automotive India, Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), Infosys, Khaitan Chemicals & Fertilizers, and Tata Capital.

Global cues mixed despite record highs in Asia

The subdued start in Indian markets comes despite record highs in some Asian peers. Japan’s Nikkei 225 briefly touched an all-time intraday high of 60,013.98 before slipping 1.13 per cent on profit booking. South Korea’s Kospi also hit a fresh peak of 6,538.72, rising 1.58 per cent, while the Kosdaq gained 0.58 per cent. However, both indices later pared gains and traded about 1 per cent lower.

Early optimism was supported by data showing South Korea’s economy grew 1.7 per cent in the January–March quarter, its fastest pace since the December quarter of 2020.
FIIs, DIIs turn sellers

Foreign investor flows remained volatile. Both foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers in the previous session. FIIs sold shares worth around Rs 2,080 crore, while DIIs offloaded about Rs 1,050 crore, indicating a risk-off approach amid uncertainty.

US markets end higher; futures signal caution

Global cues remained mixed. S&P 500 futures slipped 0.1 per cent, while Nasdaq 100 futures were flat in early trade. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures declined 173 points, or 0.4 per cent.

In the previous session, US markets ended higher. The S&P 500 gained 1.05 per cent to close at 7,137.90, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.64 per cent to hit a new intraday high of 24,657.57. The Dow Jones advanced 340.65 points, or 0.69 per cent, to settle at 49,490.03.

Oil prices ease slightly

Oil prices cooled marginally after recent gains. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slipped 0.28 per cent to $89.42 per barrel, while Brent crude declined 0.29 per cent to $98.19 per barrel.