SENSEX falls 309 points, NIFTY50 below 25,000 amid cautious global markets; SBI Life, Asian Paints top losers

Snapping a six-day rally, the Indian stock market opened with a gap down on Friday, August 22, amid weak global cues.

The broader market, however, was trading mixed in the early session. The Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.15%, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 was down 0.15%.

Among sectors, Nifty Private Bank (-0.37%) was the biggest loser, followed by Nifty Oil and Gas (-0.31%) and Nifty IT (-0.25%). Nifty Media (0.35%), Nifty Consumer Durables (0.30%) and Nifty Pharma (0.14%) were among the top gainers.

According to exchange data, on Thursday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth ₹1,246.51 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹2,546.27 crore on a net basis.

Globally, most of the Asian indices edged higher on Friday as investors awaited a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the annual Jackson Hole symposium.

South Korea's KOSPI gained 0.71%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.20%, and the Shanghai Composite was trading up by 0.67%. However, Japan’s Nikkei was down marginally by 0.05%.

On Wall Street, indices settled with losses on Thursday as investors turned cautious.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 152.81 points, or 0.34%, to end at 44,785.50; the S&P 500 fell 25.61 points, or 0.40%, to close at 6,370.17; and the Nasdaq Composite declined 72.54 points, or 0.34%, to settle at 21,100.31.

As many as 2,446 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which only 1,138 were trading in the green, 1,211 were trading in the red, and 97 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 32 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while only 7 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Almost 11 stocks hit their lower circuits, and 33 stocks hit their upper circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading 0.04% higher at 11.38 levels.

SBI Life Insurance was the biggest laggard, falling 1.29%, followed by Asian Paints (-1.03%), Adani Ports (-1%), HCL Technologies (-0.90%) and Grasim (-0.83%).

On the other hand, Bharat Electronics (0.65%), Larsen & Toubro (0.56%), IndusInd Bank (0.40%), Mahindra & Mahindra (0.32%) and Bajaj Finance (0.26%) were the biggest gainers on the 50-share index.