Market opening: Indices open lower for 4th session, NIFTY50 below 26,100, SENSEX falls 143 pts as metal, IT stocks drag; TCS top laggard

The Indian stock market opened in red for the fourth session on Thursday, January 8, mirroring global cues and dragged by metal, IT and oil & gas sectors.  

Meanwhile, despite opening positive, the broader market lost momentum soon. The Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 were trading 0.24% and 0.02% lower, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty Metal took the lead among losers, slipping 1.22, followed by Nifty IT (-0.69%), Nifty Oil & Gas (-0.64%), Nifty PSU Bank (-0.53%) and Nifty Pharma (-0.35%). On the other hand, Nifty Realty (0.72%) and Nifty Consumer Durables (0.26%) were the only gainers in the opening session.

According to exchange data, on Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹1,527.71 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹2,889.32 crore on a net basis.

Globally, most of the Asian shares were trading lower as the record-breaking rally lost steam, with Japan's Nikkei falling 1%, China's Shanghai Composite advancing 0.19%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng falling 1.2% and Thailand's SET Composite dropping 1.32%.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 broke its four-day winning streak to register its first loss of 2026. The S&P 500 declined 0.3%, and the Dow Jones fell 0.94%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.16%.

Some of the market’s sharpest drops hit industries that President Donald Trump targeted with criticism on his social media network.

As many as 2,683 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 900 advanced, 1,700 declined, and 83 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 36 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 47 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 30 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 25 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 10.07 levels, gaining 1.18%.

As many as 36 stocks declined, while 13 advanced and one remained unchanged in the opening session on the NIFTY50 index.

TCS (-1.96%), Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (-1.71%), Wipro (-1.51%), Hindalco Industries (-1.43%) and HDFC Life Insurance (-1.34%) were the biggest laggards.

On the other hand, Adani Ports (0.61%), Bharat Electronics (0.57%), ICICI Bank (0.48%), Hindustan Unilever (0.46%) and SBI Life Insurance (0.44%) were the top gaining stocks on the 50-share index.