The Indian market opened with a big fall on the last trading day of the week i.e. Friday. Investor sentiment was negatively impacted due to weak global cues and persistent concerns over AI disruptions. Due to this, benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty fell by more than 1 percent in early trade on Friday. The rupee fell 8 paise to 90.69 against the US dollar in early trade.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 883.4 points or 1.05 per cent to 82,791.52 in early trade. At the same time, the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 262.60 points or 1.02 percent to 25,544.60.
Condition of Sensex companies
The biggest impact of the selling pressure that continued since the last session was seen on technology stocks. There was a huge fall in the shares of big companies like Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra in Sensex. Shares of Eternal, Hindustan Unilever, Adani Ports, Trent, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Indigo, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement and NTPC were also trading in the declining range.
Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel were the only stocks that gained. BSE Smallcap Select index fell by 1.93 per cent, while Midcap Select index fell by 1.40 per cent.
The market has entered a volatile period
VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd, said the markets have entered a volatile phase, which will create some jitters among investors, although there will also be opportunities. A selloff in AI stocks was expected in US markets, but the timing and extent of the selloff was unknown.
Fall in AI stocks positive for Indian market
He said this decline in AI stocks is positive for the Indian market, as last year’s global rally was mainly based on AI-related business in which India, which is a laggard in the field of AI, could not participate. So, if AI business continues to decline, it is positive from the Indian perspective.
He further said that what is shaking the Indian market at the moment is the huge selling in IT stocks, which is the second largest source of profits for Indian companies. The actual impact of the ‘man-made crisis’ on the IT sector is not yet known.
Asian markets remained in mixed condition
In Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng benchmark, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai’s SSE Composite index were trading lower, while South Korea’s Kospi was in positive territory. The US stock market closed with a decline in overnight trading on Thursday.
Sharp selling in tech stocks amid AI-related concerns
Devarsh Vakil, head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities, said Wall Street indices fell sharply on Thursday, with the Nasdaq laden with technology stocks falling as much as 2 per cent as investors stepped up selling of tech stocks and shifted away from transport stocks amid concerns of disruption caused by artificial intelligence. He further said that rising concerns over AI’s ability to disrupt business models led to a sharp decline in shares of major tech companies.
The price of Brent crude fell to US $ 67.41 per barrel.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.16 percent to US$67.41 per barrel. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 108.42 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors also bought shares worth Rs 276.85 crore, according to exchange data. On Thursday, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 558.72 points to close at 83,674.92. At the same time, the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 146.65 points and ended at 25,807.20.
