Market opening: Indices open flat, SENSEX down 82 pts, NIFTY50 below 25,900 on weak global cues; Tata Motors PV top loser

The Indian stock market opened flat down for the second session on Wednesday, November 19, dragged by realty and media stocks, while weak global cues further weighed on the sentiment.

The broader market was also trading lower in the early trade, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 losing 0.03% and 0.30%, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty Media took the lead among the losers’ pack, declining 0.91%, followed by Nifty Realty (-0.52%) and Nifty Pharma (-0.28%). Meanwhile, Nifty IT (0.63%), Nifty FMCG (0.08%) and Nifty Auto (0.03%) were the gainers in the opening session.

According to exchange data, on Tuesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹728.82 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹6,156.83 crore on a net basis.

Globally, Asian indices were volatile as investors assessed the impact of the global stock sell-off, with traders watching to see if regional markets can recover after Wall Street’s sharp decline.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.31%, South Korea's KOSPI was down 0.46%, and China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.04%. Japan's Nikkei, however, was trading up by 0.18%.

On Wall Street, US stocks closed lower on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 logging its fourth consecutive decline as valuation concerns weighed on major technology-related shares. The Dow Jones fell 1.1%, the S&P 500 slipped 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.2%.

As many as 2,687 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,205 advanced, 1,385 declined, and 97 shares remained unchanged.

This indicates that the market's breadth is favourable towards declines.

Meanwhile, 32 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 71 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 29 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 30 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 11.94 levels, falling 1.3%.

Tata Motor Passenger Vehicle (-0.85%) was the biggest losing stock, followed by HDFC Bank (-0.63%), Coal India (-0.51%), IndiGo (-0.5%) and HDFC Life Insurance (-0.49%).

On the flip side, Infosys (1.26%), Hindustan Unilever (1.04%), Nestle India (0.87%), TCS (0.77%), and Max Healthcare (0.66%) were the biggest gainers on the 50-share index.