Market opening: NIFTY50 opens at 22,596, SENSEX falls 238 pts as pharma stocks drag; Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndiGo top losers

The Indian stock market opened lower on Monday, April 6, dragged by pharma, realty, and oil and gas stocks as investors remained cautious amid the ongoing geopolitical tensions, rising oil prices, and the upcoming RBI monetary policy meeting.

The broader market also opened lower, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 slipping 0.91% and 0.87%, respectively.

Among sectors, all indices opened in the red except Nifty IT, which gained 0.74%. Nifty Pharma led the losses, falling 1.2%, followed by Nifty Oil & Gas (-1.15%), Nifty Realty (-0.88%), Nifty Media (-0.66%) and Nifty Auto (-0.54%).

The market investors remain watchful after US President Donald Trump vowed "hell" if Tehran does not meet his deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported.

Trump’s repeated threats to target civilian infrastructure like power plants and bridges if the key waterway is not reopened by Tuesday have unsettled investors, raising concerns over possible retaliation by Iran in the Gulf region.

Further, the market participants will closely monitor the Reserve Bank of India’s upcoming monetary policy scheduled between April 6 and 8 for its stance and commentary on the repo rate, which currently stands at 5.25%.

According to exchange data, on Friday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹9,931.13 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹7,208.41 crore on a net basis.

On the global front, Asian indices, which were open on Monday, were mostly trading in green, with investors closely keeping an eye on the Iran war developments, soaring oil prices and what President Donald Trump's next comments. Most of the markets in Asia were closed on account of a holiday on Monday.

South Korea's KOSPI advanced 3%, Japan’s Nikkei was up 1.12%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index gained 0.2%.

US markets shook off an early stumble to finish with slim gains on Wall Street on Thursday and close out their first winning week since the start of the Iran war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.13%, the S&P 500 rose 0.11% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.2%.

Market statistics

As many as 2,858 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,279 advanced, 1,484 declined, and 95 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 20 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 33 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 61 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 33 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 26.31 levels, rising 3.1%.

Top gainers and losers

As many as 30 stocks declined, while 20 were trading in the green during the opening session on the NIFTY50 index.

Kotak Mahindra Bank was the most losing stock, declining 2.03%, followed by InterGlobe Aviation (-1.91%), Adani Enterprises (-1.28%), Reliance Industries (-1.27%) and Sun Pharma (-1.12%).

On the other hand, Trent (4.12%), Wipro (1.95%), Hindalco Industries (1.78%), Coal India (1.48%) and Titan Company (1.48%) were the top gainers on the 50-share index.