Market opening: SENSEX falls 105 points, NIFTY50 at 26,147 as financial stocks drag; HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank among top losers

The Indian equity market opened lower on Tuesday, December 2, tracking weak global cues and a decline in banking and financial stocks. Investors remain cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s December monetary policy meeting, slated to start on Wednesday.

Market participants were also jittery after India’s industrial production growth slowed sharply to 0.4% in October 2025, mainly due to fewer working days during a month packed with major festivals and a decline in electricity generation, official data released on Monday showed. The overall IIP index stood at 150.9 in October, compared with 150.3 in the same month last year.

The domestic currency's slide to a new record low of 89.85 against the US dollar on Tuesday further dampened investor sentiment.

The broader market was also trading mixed in the early trade, with the Nifty Midcap 100 rising 0.20% while the Nifty Smallcap 100 slipped 0.14%.

Among the sectors, Nifty Media (-0.48%), Nifty Private Bank (-0.27%), and Nifty Metal (-0.16%) were the big laggards.

According to exchange data, on Monday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹1,171.31 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹2,558.93 crore on a net basis.

Globally, most of the Asian stocks were trading higher, rebounding from the previous day's sell-off. 

Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.08%, and South Korea's KOSPI was up 1.45%, while China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.55%. Japan's Nikkei was also trading 0.4% higher.

On Wall Street, the main indices gave back some of last week’s rally, as Bitcoin fell again on Monday.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.5% and broke a five-day winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 427 points, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.4%.

Market statistics

As many as 2,694 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 931 advanced, 1,663 declined, and 100 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 34 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 102 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 35 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 22 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 11.13 levels, falling 4.23%.

Top gainers and losers

HDFC Bank was the biggest losing stock, falling 1.21%, followed by ICICI Bank (-1.08%), HDFC Life Insurance (-0.85%), Axis Bank (-0.42%) and JSW Steel (-0.38%).

On the other hand, Asian Paints (1.36%), Bharti Airtel (0.87%), Eicher Motors (0.75%), Infosys (0.73%) and Tata Consumer Products (0.65%) were the top gainers on the 50-share index.