The Indian stock market opened lower on August 17, the first trading day of the week, with both the Sensex and Nifty declining amid selling pressure in the early session. Banking, IT, realty, auto and FMCG stocks traded under pressure, while select stocks remained in positive territory.
The BSE Sensex fell 288.96 points to 77,720.29 at the start of trading. The NSE Nifty declined 68.75 points to 24,297.25. Market breadth remained relatively balanced, with 1,477 shares advancing, 1,337 declining and 241 unchanged in early trade. However, selling in large-cap stocks weighed on both benchmark indices.
Among major Nifty stocks, JSW Steel declined about 1.25%. Dr Reddy's Laboratories fell around 1.28%, making it one of the major Nifty losers. State Bank of India (SBI) traded about 1.05% lower, while Jio Financial Services declined approximately 1.06%.
Large IT stocks also remained under pressure. TCS fell about 1.02%, while Infosys and HCL Technologies also traded lower. Hindustan Unilever, UltraTech Cement and Tata Steel were among other major companies whose shares declined in early trading.
Despite the broader decline, some stocks traded higher. Eicher Motors gained about 1.08% and featured among the top Nifty gainers. Hindalco rose approximately 1.02%, while Eternal gained around 0.82%. Bharat Electronics (BEL) and Kotak Mahindra Bank also remained in positive territory in early trade. Apollo Hospitals, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Adani Enterprises also saw buying in the early session.
Among sectoral indices, IT and public sector banking stocks faced the most selling pressure in early trade. The Nifty IT index declined about 0.71%, while Nifty PSU Bank fell approximately 1.03%. The broader banking index declined about 0.35%, while the realty index fell 0.50%. The FMCG index was also down around 0.57%.
In contrast, Nifty Pharma gained about 0.12%. Mid-cap stocks also traded slightly lower, while the Smallcap 100 index remained nearly flat to marginally higher.
