Market opening: SENSEX slips 351 points, NIFTY50 at 23,918 as IT stocks decline; Shriram Finance, Infosys top losers

The Indian stock market opened with losses on Thursday, April 9, weighed down by IT stocks, as investors tracked weak cues from Asian markets.

The broader market, however, was trading with gains in early deals, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 surging 0.25% and 0.55%, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty IT (-1.06%) was the top loser, while Nifty Private Bank (-0.58%), Nifty Oil & Gas (-0.38%) and Nifty Realty (-0.03%) were the other draggers. On the other hand, Nifty Metal and Nifty Media were the top gainers, rising 0.99% each, followed by Nifty Pharma (0.41%) and Nifty Consumer Durables (0.18%).

According to exchange data, on Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹2,811.97 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹4,168.17 crore on a net basis.

On the global front, most of the Asian markets were trading lower on Thursday as investors resorted to profit booking after a massive rally in the previous session.

Japan's Nikkei declined 0.6%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.18%, China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.73% and South Korea's KOSPI fell 1.38%.

On Wall Street, the main indices joined the global rally as investors cheered the two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran announced by President Donald Trump.

The S&P 500 index surged 2.51%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 2.85%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 2.8%.

As many as 2,741 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 2,049 advanced, 622 declined, and 70 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 33 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 6 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 86 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 9 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 19.99 levels, rising 1.49%.

As many as 28 stocks declined, while 22 advanced and two remained unchanged in the opening session on the NIFTY50 index.

Shriram Finance was the biggest laggard, declining 2.07%, followed by Infosys (-1.64%), Adani Ports (-1.62%), UltraTech Cement (-1.13%), and Larsen & Toubro (-1.03%).

On the contrary, Bajaj Auto (2.55%), NTPC (1.71%), Hindalco Industries (1.65%), Tata Steel (1.65%), Tata Steel (1.48%) and JSW Steel (1.31%) were the top gainers on the 50-share index.