NIFTY50 opens below 24,800 level, Sensex declines 211 points as heavyweights drag; Kotak Mahindra Bank tanks over 6%

The Indian stock market opened lower for the third consecutive session on Monday, July 28, following selling pressure in realty stocks and continuous foreign fund outflows.

Market investors were also cautious, as US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that the US deadline of August 1 for imposing tariffs on its trading partners is firm and there will be no extensions.

The broader market was seen as buoyant in the early session, with Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 gaining marginally by 0.27% and 0.09%, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty Realty led the pack of losers, declining 2.78%, while Nifty IT (-0.61%) and Nifty Private Bank (-1.02%) were the other losers.

Heavyweight stocks like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major draggers in the early session.

According to exchange data, on Friday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹1,979.96 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹2,138.59 crore on a net basis, respectively.

Globally, the indices on the Asian markets were trading mixed on Monday as investors waited for more cues amid the European Union and the USA’s trade talks.

Japan’s Nikkei index was trading down 0.94% at 41,067, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was seen at the 25,460 level, rising 0.27%. The Shanghai Composite was trading at 3,587.69 levels, down 0.17%, and South Korea’s Kospi index also traded 0.14% lower at 3,192.4 levels.

Meanwhile, on Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched record high closes on Friday amid trade deal talks.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.40% to end at 6,388.64 points. The Nasdaq gained 0.24% to 21,108.32 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.47% to 44,901.92 points.

As many as 2,585 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,340 were trading in the green, 1,150 were trading in the red, and 95 shares remained unchanged.

This indicates that the market's breadth was in favour of advances.

Meanwhile, 34 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while only 30 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 36 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 44 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading 3.39% higher at 11.66 levels.

Kotak Mahindra Bank was the biggest losing stock, tumbling 6.41% following its June quarter earnings.

TCS (-1.27%), Infosys (-0.88%), Wipro (-0.87%), and Bharti Airtel (-0.74%) were the other top losers in the opening session.

On the flip side, Shriram Finance (2.03%), Tata Motors (1.68%), Bajaj Finserv (1.67%), Adani Enterprises (1.26%), and Tata Consumer Products (1.05%) were the top gainers on Monday.