SENSEX drops over 800 pts, NIFTY50 opens at 23,080 amid Asian market sell-off; Wipro, Hindalco among top losers

At the 9:15 am opening bell, the NIFTY50 index opened 1.22% or 286 points lower at 23,080.70 points on Monday, compared to 23,366.70 points at the previous market close, according to NSE data.

Meanwhile, the BSE SENSEX dropped 827 points or 1.14% to open at 73,421.61 points on June 8, compared to 74,243 points at the previous trading close, according to the exchange data.

Before the opening bell on Monday, the Nifty futures at GIFT City showed that the index was expected to open around 200 points lower due to the cautious sentiment among investors in the equity market amid outflows.

Stock market investors are expected to focus on the weak global market cues amid the risk of further escalations between Israel and Iran in West Asia and no signs of a peace agreement or a near-term end to the US-Iran conflict.

Factors driving down stock market today

The benchmark stock indices in India were facing downward pressure from the Asian markets after the Korean stock index, KOSPI, crashed nearly 9% on Monday due to the heightened geopolitical uncertainty and fresh attacks in Iran.

After dropping to a lower circuit, the trading on the KOSPI was suspended for 20 minutes, after which the index continued its downward trend due to the continued foreign capital outflow from emerging markets.

Global traders are likely to move out of risky emerging market bets in cases of renewed geopolitical risk, shifting their bets to safe-haven assets like the US dollar or government-backed treasuries and away from equity markets.

NSE FII data showed that foreign investors sold ₹8,776 crore worth of capital market assets across the stock exchanges in a single day on Friday last week.

The Indian market sentiment was also weakened by the latest round of reports, which suggest that Israel attacked the central and western regions of Iran with around 10 ballistic missiles after Iran launched missiles into Israel in response to the country attacking Lebanon last week.

Due to the attacks, the global crude oil prices surged more than 3.5%, trading above $96 per barrel on Monday, as the escalations threaten the supply of oil while eroding the hopes of a near-term end to the West Asia conflict.

Top gainers & losers today

NSE data showed that only eight of the 50 stocks listed on the benchmark NIFTY50 index were trading in the green, while others were down amid the broader market selloff.

Stocks like Nestle India, State Bank of India, Power Grid Corp., Apollo Hospital, Dr Reddy’s, and Sun Pharma were among the gainers as of the early market hours on the stock exchange.

Nestle India was trading 1.1% higher, State Bank of India was up 0.8%, Power Grid Corp. was up 0.8%, Apollo Hospital up 0.7%, Dr Reddy’s up 0.6%, and Sun Pharma up 0.4% were among the gainers on Monday, June 8.

While the top laggards were stocks like Wipro, Mahindra & Mahindra, TCS, InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo), Hindalco, and Eternal, among others.

Wipro down over 3%, Mahindra & Mahindra down 2%, TCS down 1.9%, InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) down 1.9%, Hindalco down 1.8%, and Eternal down 1.6%, as per the early market trends on Monday.