Domestic benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty opened gap-down on Friday, tracking weak cues from global markets as crude oil prices surged amid fresh escalation in Middle East tensions and growing uncertainty over the fragile US-Iran ceasefire.

At 9:18 am, the BSE Sensex declined 382.50 points, or 0.49%, to 77,462.02, after falling as much as 552 points in early trade, while the NSE Nifty slipped 128.10 points, or 0.53%, to 24,198.55, briefly touching a low of 24,158.15.

Among Sensex constituents, Axis Bank slumped 1.38% to Rs 1274.50. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) dropped 1.38%, while HDFC Bank, Eternal, and Kotak Mahindra Bank declined 1.24%, 1.05% and 0.98%, respectively.

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Broader Asian markets traded lower today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was trading 1.05% lower at 62,174.12, while South Korea’s Kospi declined 1.15% to 7,404.16. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.20% to 26,308.03. 

Wall Street ended lower overnight, with all three major indices closing in the red. The S&P 500 declined 0.38% to settle at 7,337.11, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.63% to close at 49,596.97. The Nasdaq Composite edged down 0.13% to end at 25,806.20.

“In contrast India, impacted by the energy crisis, has delivered negative returns with Nifty posting -6.96 % return YTD. An important trend in India is the outperformance of the broader market,” Vijayakumar added.

“As long as Nifty holds above the 24,200–24,000 support zone, the broader trend is likely to remain constructive. A sustained move above 24,500 may trigger further upside toward 24,600 and 24,800, while a break below 24,000 could drag the index toward 23,800,” said Aakash Shah, Technical Research Analyst at Choice Equity Broking Private Ld.

Previous session

In the previous session on Thursday, the Sensex slipped 114 points, or 0.15%, to settle at 77,844.52, while the Nifty edged down 4.30 points, or 0.02%, to close at 24,326.65.