Market Today: Sensex Declines Over 700 Points, Nifty Opens Below 23,250 As Oil Hits 4-Month High Of $108

Stock Market Today, September 11: The domestic equity markets opened sharply lower on Friday, with the Sensex falling over 700 points and the Nifty slipping below the 23,250 mark amid broad-based selling across sectors. The sharp fall comes after Brent crude oil prices surged to a four-month high of $108.77 per barrel, as the conflict in West Asia has intensified, with disruptions around the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz raising fears of tighter oil supplies.

At 9:18 am, the BSE Sensex was trading at 74,200.96, down 701.63 points or 0.94%, while the NSE Nifty was at 23,237.75, down 239.05 points or 1.02%.

The selling was broad-based, with midcap and smallcap stocks also coming under pressure. The Nifty Next 50 declined 1.45%, while the Nifty Midcap

100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 fell 1.28% and 1.22%, respectively.

Among sectoral indices, Nifty Metal was the biggest laggard, falling 2.98% in early trade. Nifty Realty dropped 2.41%, while Nifty Financial Services, Consumer Durables and Chemicals declined more than 1%.

Banking stocks also weakened, with the Nifty Bank down 1.34% and the Nifty Financial Services index falling 1.55%. PSU banks and private banks declined 1.42% and 1.28%, respectively.

The broader market also remained under pressure, with Nifty Auto down 1.42%, Cement down 1.29% and Oil & Gas down 0.67%. FMCG was relatively resilient, declining 0.45%.

IT stocks bucked the broader trend. The Nifty IT index gained 0.44% in early trade, making it the only major sectoral index in the green at the time of the data. The Nifty Healthcare index was down a modest 0.56%, while Pharma declined 0.58%.

The India VIX rose 4.95% to 12.38, signalling a rise in market volatility as investors turned cautious.

At the stock level, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Infosys were among the early gainers in the Sensex pack, while LT, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the major losers. The weak opening comes after the Sensex closed at 74,902.59 and the Nifty at 23,477.80 in the previous session.