Market opening: SENSEX crashes 1,653 pts, NIFTY50 at 23,573 on weak global cues; Bajaj Finance top loser, VIX jumps 14%

The Indian equity market opened sharply lower on Monday, April 13, tracking other Asian peers, as investor sentiment remained cautious after ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran ended without an agreement over the weekend.

The broader market also opened lower, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 slipping 2.33% and 2.58%, respectively.

All the sectoral indices were trading lower in the opening session, with Nifty Realty taking the lead, tumbling 3.38%, followed by Nifty PSU Bank (-3.36%) and Nifty Auto (-2.3%).

Meanwhile, crude oil prices in the global market surged past $102 per barrel (bbl) during the early market hours on Monday after US President Donald Trump disclosed that the US-Iran talks have failed over the weekend and the United States is planning to blockade the marine traffic at the Strait of Hormuz.

According to exchange data, on Friday, both the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹672.09 crore and ₹410.05 crore, respectively, on a net basis.

On the global front, markets in Asia were trading sharply lower on Monday as crude oil prices jumped above $100 per barrel after ceasefire talks between US Vice President JD Vance and Iran's Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf failed to reach an agreement over the weekend in Islamabad.

Japan's Nikkei dropped 0.92%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.13%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.22% and South Korea's KOSPI fell 1.3%.

Last week, the US stocks largely ended lower on Friday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.56%, the S&P 500 index declined 0.11% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.35%.

As many as 2,821 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 373 advanced, 2,388 declined, and 60 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 29 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 15 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 59 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 47 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 21.50 levels, rising 14.07%.

As many as 47 stocks declined, while only 3 were trading in the green during the opening session on the NIFTY50 index.

Bajaj Finance and InterGlobe Aviation were the biggest laggards, each falling 3.85%, followed by Asian Paints (-3.56%), Eicher Motors (-3.31%) and Maruti Suzuki (-3.25%).

On the other hand, Coal India (0.58%), ONGC (0.44%) and Sun Pharma (0.05%) were the only gainers on the 50-share index.