The Indian equity market opened lower on Wednesday, August 12, with both the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 trading in the red amid selling pressure. The Sensex declined by around 200 points, while the Nifty fell more than 60 points to around 24,400 in early trade.
Global market cues and developments involving domestic companies influenced market activity. Weakness in FMCG and IT stocks also weighed on the market during the initial session.
At around 9:23 am, the BSE Sensex was trading at 77,953.38, down 200.87 points or around 0.26%. The NSE Nifty 50 declined 60.75 points to 24,410.95.
However, the broader market did not see across-the-board selling. Around 1,462 stocks were trading higher, while 1,331 stocks were in decline. About 166 stocks remained largely unchanged.
Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) was among the stocks in focus during early trading. The company’s shares fell 10% to a 52-week low of ₹922.50.
The decline followed a change in the company’s top leadership. The board of Godrej Consumer Products announced the appointment of Asif Malbari, the company’s existing Global CFO and President (Africa), as the new Managing Director and CEO.
Malbari will replace Sudhir Sitapati, who has resigned as the company’s MD and CEO. The leadership change was followed by selling in the company’s shares during early trade.
While several large-cap stocks remained under pressure, some shares traded higher. SBI gained around 1.27% and was the leading gainer in the Sensex pack during early trade. Tech Mahindra rose around 1.01%, while Eternal gained 0.58%.
Axis Bank, Asian Paints and ICICI Bank were also trading higher in early trade.
Bharti Airtel declined around 0.67% to around ₹1,906.10. UltraTech Cement fell 0.51%, Kotak Mahindra Bank declined 0.48%, and Hindustan Unilever was down 0.44%.
The sectoral indices also showed a mixed trend. Nifty Realty was the weakest sector, declining 0.78%. Nifty FMCG fell 0.58%, while Nifty IT declined 0.39%.
In contrast, Nifty Energy gained 0.03% and Nifty MNC rose 0.07%.
