Stock market today: Sensex down 284 pts, Nifty below 25,700; IndiGo, Trent lead losers

Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty slipped in early trade on Thursday, tracking weak cues from global markets. The decline came a day after the indices logged their third consecutive session of gains amid volatility and concerns emanating from the global IT sector over Anthropic’s latest AI tool.

At 9:25 am, the BSE Sensex slipped 284.16 points, or 0.34%, to 83,533.53. The NSE Nifty was down 94.35 points, or 0.37%, to 25,681.65.

Among Sensex constituents, InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) declined 2.24% to Rs 4852.85. Trent slipped 1%, while Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and Eternal fell 0.95%, 0.88% and 0.85%, respectively. 

The 50-pack index is in a consolidation phase without big moves at the index level, but this masks big changes within the Nifty stocks, said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited. 

Vijayakumar pointed to the sharp correction in IT shares, noting that big declines in IT stocks have followed the sell-off in US technology counters, which has now spilled over into Indian markets as well.

Asian markets traded lower. At last check, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.73% to 53,898.35, while South Korea’s Kospi plunged 3.47% to 5,184.72. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 1.24% to 26,513.64.

Wall Street ended mixed overnight, with two of the three major indices closed in the red. The S&P 500 slipped 0.51% to close at 6,882.72, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.53% to 49,501.30. The Nasdaq Composite plunged 1.51% to settle at 22,904.58.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Sensex edged up 78.56 points, or 0.09%, to end at 83,817.69, while the Nifty rose 48.45 points, or 0.19%, to settle at 25,776.

“In contrast to the weakness in IT stocks, the large domestic consumption-driven segments are doing well, and this is reflected in the resilience of leaders like RIL, Bharti, the banking majors and some auto stocks. After the growth-orientated budget and trade deals with the EU and US, India’s growth will remain strong, facilitating strong domestic consumption,” Vijayakumar said.