Stock markets opening: Sensex falls near 400 points, Nifty below 15700; Asian Paints, UPL, Tata Motors marginally gain in early trade

The Indian markets opened with a decline of around one per cent each following the 'hawkish' statement by US Federal Reserve on Thursday. Sensex down nearly 400 points and Nifty below 15,700 at open. 

BSE Sensex declined by 379.73 points or 0.72 per cent to 52122.30 while Nifty down by 119.20 points or 0.76 per cent to 15648.30 at open. Similarly, Nifty Bank also fell by 383.7 points or 1.1 per cent to 34619.8 and The mid-cap index slipped by 235.4 points or 0.87 per cent to 26873.1 at open. 

Of 50 scrips on Nifty50, 14 advanced, while 35 declined and one unchanged during early morning trade today. Adani Ports declined most in the list by around three and a half per cent at open today. 

While Tata Steel declined second-most at open today by over two and a half per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance by over two per cent fall at open today. Other index losers at market open today were HDFC, which declined by over one and a half per cent and NTPC declined by over one per cent.  

Asian Paints, UPL, and Tata Motors each gained by around one per cent in negative trade today. 

All sectoral indices are in the red, except Nifty Media and Nifty Realty trading flat but in the green. Banking and financial shares declined most today, dragging the sectoral index. Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank each declined by around one per cent in the Nifty Bank index. 

The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday concluded its two-day meeting with higher expectations for inflation in 2021, along with an earlier timeframe for interest rate hikes.  

The global markets, especially the US markets closed in the red as Federal Reserve sees no rate rise till 2023, while Asian markets opened weak with the Japanese Nikkei trading lower by over 1 per cent. Similarly, FIIs sold shares worth Rs 870.29 crore in cash, and Rs 874.2 cr in index futures.

(Authored by Vaibhav Bansode)