Market opening: SENSEX falls 115 points, NIFTY50 at 25,552 as IT stocks drag; Wipro slips over 4%

Snapping a two-day rally, Indian equity benchmark indices opened lower on Friday, October 17, weighed down by losses in IT stocks and weak global cues.

The Nifty IT index led the declines among sectors, slipping 1.15% in early trade, with Wipro (-4.38%) emerging as the top loser following its September quarter results.

Nifty Media (-0.97%), Nifty PSU Bank (-0.40%), Nifty Realty (-0.24%) and Nifty Private Bank (-0.18%) were the other losers among sectors.

In contrast, the broader market showed a mixed trend in early trade, with the Nifty Midcap 100 down 0.19% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 up 0.24%.

According to exchange data, on Thursday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth ₹997.29 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹4,076.20 crore on a net basis.

Globally, Asian indices traded lower on Friday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, as bond yields eased and gold surged to a new record high.

Japan's Nikkei slipped 1.27%, Singapore's Straits Times was down 0.48%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng also fell 1.60%, while South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.15%. The Shanghai Composite also declined 1%.

On Wall Street, major indices ended lower on Thursday as renewed concerns over regional banks unsettled investors already wary of escalating US-China trade tensions.

The S&P 500 fell 0.63%, the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.47%, and the Dow Jones slipped 0.65%.

As many as 2,664 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,445 advanced, 1,145 declined, and 74 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 49 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 26 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 37 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 14 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 11.2 levels, rising 3.19%.

Wipro was the biggest laggard, declining 4.27%, followed by Eternal (-1.81%), Infosys (-1.2%), Power Grid (-1.05%), and HCL Technology (-1.03%).

On the flip side, Asian Paints (2.92%), Mahindra & Mahindra (1.06%), Nestle India (0.85%), Shriram Finance (0.84%) and Tata Motors (0.81%) were the top gainers on the 50-share index.