Market Opening Bell: Indices trim early losses, SENSEX up 400 pts, NIFTY50 above 23,600 mark; auto stocks tumble

The Indian stock market on Thursday, March 27, declined during the opening trade, taking cues from the global market as US President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on all auto exports. But it soon pared losses and turned positive.

At 10:12 AM, the S&P BSE SENSEX surged 430.07 points, or 0.56%, at the 77,718.57 level, while NSE’s NIFTY50 was at the 23,613.10 level, rising 126.25 points, or 0.54%.

The market breadth, however, was largely in favour of positive, as 1,587 stocks advanced on the NSE out of 2,377 stocks traded during the opening session.

The broader market also declined in the early trades.

The auto sector was the biggest loser among sectoral scrips, tanking 2.31%. Samvardhana Motherson, Tata Motors, Bharat Forge, Ashok Leyland, and Balkrishna Industries were among the biggest laggards in the sector. Shares of Tata Motor’s, whose key market is the US for Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), also crashed over 5% in the morning trade.

Tata Motors, Eicher Motors, Sun Pharma, Asian Paints and Bajaj Auto were the biggest losing scrips on the NIFTY50, declining as much as 5.33%.

Meanwhile, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued with their buying spree for the fifth straight session as they bought equities worth ₹2,240.55 crore on a net basis on Wednesday, according to exchange data. The domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold Indian equities worth ₹696 crore.

Globally, the US markets closed in deep red, especially on the NASDAQ, with 2% losses as investor concerns rise on tariff impact on the economy. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 closed with 0.3% and 1% losses on Wednesday.

Following the slide in the US markets, Asian shares also tumbled on Thursday while the dollar hovered near a three-week high.

Led by losses in auto stocks, Japan's Nikkei declined 1.2%. Shares of Subaru, Toyota Motor and Mazda Motor plunged as much as about 6%. South Korea's KOSPI dropped 0.7%.

Elsewhere, shares of Chinese electric vehicle makers also fell. China's blue-chip index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were both down 0.3%. European stock futures were in the red as well.

As many as 2,499 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,191 stocks were trading in the green, 1,246 in the red and 62 shares remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, only 8 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 148 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 23 stocks hit their lower circuits while 56 hit their upper circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading 1.05% higher at 13.61 levels.

After opening in red, the broader market extended their gains. Nifty Midcap 100 trading 0.14% higher at 51,717.15 levels and Nifty Smallcap 100 at 15,943.10 levels, edging up by 0.04%.

Apart from Bharat Forge, the deal was also signed with Tata Advanced Systems Limited. The agreements were signed in the presence of Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh in New Delhi.