The Indian equity market opened lower on August 14, with the BSE Sensex falling by around 300 points and the NSE Nifty 50 slipping below 24,350 to around 24,317 on the final trading day of the week.
In early trading, the Sensex declined 315.67 points to 77,764.29, while the Nifty 50 fell 78.40 points to around 24,317.45. Selling pressure was seen in IT, metal and some banking stocks, although buying continued in several other shares.
Around 1,576 stocks advanced in the broader market, while approximately 1,185 declined and about 150 remained unchanged.
Tata Steel was among the major Sensex laggards, declining around 1.41%. Tech Mahindra fell approximately 1.27%, while Axis Bank declined as much as 1.19%. InterGlobe Aviation, or IndiGo, fell around 1.18%, and Power Grid declined 1.11%.
TCS, HCLTech and Reliance Industries also traded lower. Selling pressure in IT stocks kept the Nifty IT index in negative territory.
Eternal rose around 1.27% to approximately ₹322.05, while Titan Company gained about 0.63% to around ₹5,082.50.
Adani Ports, Bajaj Finance and Bharti Airtel also traded in positive territory during early trading.
Apollo Hospitals was among the leading Nifty 50 gainers, rising around 1.41%. Eternal, Bajaj Finance, Adani Ports and Wipro were also among the top gainers.
TMPV was among the major laggards, falling around 4.09%. Hindalco declined approximately 1.90%, while Max Healthcare, Jio Financial and SBI also faced selling pressure.
Most major sectoral indices traded lower, except the Consumer Durables index. The Nifty IT index declined around 0.47% to approximately 31,305.75, while the Nifty FMCG index fell about 0.39%. The Nifty Bank index was down around 0.16%.
The banking, IT and metal segments traded lower, while the midcap and smallcap indices also recorded modest declines.
