Market opening: SENSEX tanks 1,351 pts, NIFTY50 drops 2% on weak global cues; Sun Pharma, IndiGo top laggards

The Indian stock market opened lower on Thursday, April 2, as investor sentiment turned worried amid rising geopolitical tensions after President Donald Trump’s address on the ongoing US-Iran war.

The broader market also opened in red as both the Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 slumped 2.75% and 2.65%, respectively.

All the sectoral indices were trading lower, with Nifty Realty (-3.56%), Nifty Pharma (-3.52%), and Nifty PSU Bank (-3.31%) being the top losers.

Addressing a war-weary US public, President Donald Trump said his military had delivered “swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield" for 32 days ‌of military strikes and that Iran was no longer a security threat.

Trump on Thursday morning said that the United States will carry out aggressive strikes on Iran over the next two to three weeks and is nearing completion of its main strategic objectives in the ​war.

According to exchange data, on Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹8,331.15 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth ₹7,171.80 crore on a net basis.

Globally, Asian markets were trading lower as geopolitical tensions increased after the US president's address. Japan's Nikkei fell 2.26%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.53%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.08% and South Korea's KOSPI dropped 4.24%.

On Wall Street, the main indices ended higher ahead of Tump's comments on prolonging the war on Iran. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%, the S&P 500 advanced 0.72% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.16%.

Market statistics

As many as 2,776 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 356 advanced, 2,361 declined, and 59 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 12 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 88 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 39 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 30 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading at 26 levels, rising 3.93%.

Top gainers and losers

As many as 49 stocks declined, while only 1 was trading in the green during the opening session on the NIFTY50 index.

Sun Pharma was the biggest laggard, falling 4.54%, followed by InterGlobe Aviation operator IndiGo (-3.97%), Adani Enterprises (-3.7%), Adani Ports (-3.64%) and Shriram Finance (-3.42%).

HCL Technologies was the only gainer, rising 0.1%.