Indices open lower on global cues; NIFTY50 at 24,540, SENSEX down 118 points; Infosys top loser

The Indian stock market opened lower on Wednesday, September 3, following global cues as investors remain cautious ahead of the GST Council meeting.

The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will discuss the Centre's 'next-gen' GST reform proposal of having just two tax rates—5 and 18%—by moving products from the current 12 and 28% slab to lower rates. 

The broader market was, however, trading up, with both Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 gaining 0.19% and 0.34%, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty IT (-0.31%), Nifty Realty (-0.14%) and Nifty Auto (-0.03%) were the only losers. Meanwhile, Nifty Metal outperformed in the early session, rising 1.52%, followed by Nifty Oil and Gas (0.60%) and Nifty PSU Bank (0.55%).

According to exchange data, on Tuesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹1,159.48 crore on a net basis, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased ₹2,549.51 crore worth of equities.

On the global front, most of the stocks in Asia were trading lower on Wednesday, tracking US indices. Traders remain worried about rising global bond yields and the latest developments on the trade front.

Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.63%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.55%, and the Shanghai Composite was also trading lower by 0.96%. South Korea's KOSPI was trading up 0.36%.

On Wall Street, main indices sank on Tuesday as investors weighed the future of President Donald Trump's tariffs after a federal appeals court ruled most of his sweeping tariffs illegal.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 249.07 points, or 0.55%, to 45,295.81; the S&P 500 slipped 44.72 points, or 0.69%, to close at 6,415.54; and the Nasdaq Composite lost 175.92 points, or 0.82%, to end at 21,279.63.

As many as 2,609 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,840 were trading in the green, 690 were trading in the red, and 79 shares remained unchanged.

This indicates that the market breadth was in favour of advances.

Meanwhile, 43 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 19 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 43 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 25 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading 1.33% lower at 11.25 levels.

Infosys was the biggest losing stock, declining 1.09%, followed by Bajaj Finance (-0.95%), Hero MotoCorp (-0.76%), Tata Consumer Products (-0.70%) and ICICI Bank (-0.69%).

On the other hand, Tata Steel (2.01%), Hindalco Industries (1.71%), JSW Steel (1.45%), Cipla (0.98%) and Bharat Electronics (0.90%) were the most rising stocks on the 50-share index.