Indian stock market opens in red, IT stocks suffer

Mumbai, Nov 18 : The Indian stock market opened in red on Monday as selling was seen in IT, PSU bank and pharma sectors.

In early trade at around 9:51 am, Sensex was trading at 77,247.18 after slipping 333.13 points or 0.43 per cent, while Nifty was at 23,434.00 after slipping 98.70 points or 0.42 per cent .

The market trend remained negative. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 572 stocks were trading in green, while 1794 stocks were trading in the red.

Nifty Bank was at 50,200.80 after rising 21.25 points or 0.04 per cent. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 53,830.45 after falling 212.65 points or 0.39 per cent. The Nifty Small cap 100 index was at 17,417.20 after slipping 183.85 points or 1.04 per cent.

In the Sensex pack, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, L&T, Sun Pharma, Adani Ports, M&M and JAW Steel were the top gainers and Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, TCS, NTPC, Axis Bank and Tata Motors were the top losers.

According to market experts, despite the fall in Nifty, there are no signs of sustained improvement in the market at present. Therefore, investors are advised to be cautious.

"Even though Nifty has corrected 10.4 per cent from the peak there are no signs of a sustained recovery in the market. Relentless FII selling, earnings downgrades for majority of stocks for FY25, and the consequences of the Donald Trump trade are weighing on the market,” said experts.

Sentiments have turned negative and, therefore, investors should exercise caution at this stage and wait for clarity on the direction of the market, they added.

In Asian markets, except Jakarta and Tokyo markets, Seoul, Shanghai, Bangkok and Hong Kong markets were trading in green. US stock markets closed in red on the previous trading day.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 1,849 crore on November 14, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 2,481 crore on the same day.