Opening Bell: Markets open in red with all sectoral indices trading lower

Sensex slips 300 points while Nifty trades below the 15,300 level.

The core equity indices crashed steeply on Thursday after an initial rally with Sensex tumbling 1,045.60 points due to a large bearish trend globally after the US Federal Reserve hiked rates by 75 basis points. In the pre-opening session, the SGX Nifty Futures quoted 15,350 levels, signalling that the benchmark indices are likely to open on a flat note.

On the global front, the US equity markets witnessed a sharp selloff with Dow Jones breaching the 30,000 level and Nasdaq falling over 4%. On the same lines, in the Asia Pacific markets, the indices ended lower with Japan's Nikkei 225 dropping 2.3% and Topix slipping 2.2%. On the other hand, crude oil prices were seen stabilizing as Brent Crude price was around $119 per barrel and WTI Crude at $116 per barrel.

Sensex was down 392.29 points or 0.76% at 51103.50, and the Nifty was down 116.20 points or 0.76% at 15244.40. Wipro, TCS, Titan Company, Adani Ports and HCL Tech were among the major losers on the Nifty, while gainers were Coal India, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Auto, Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries. The only gainers in Sensex at the open were Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, NTPC and Powergrid Corporation whereas the top losers were Wipro, TCS, Asian paints, HCL Technologies and Titan.

In the broader markets, at 9.30 am BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices traded lower with a loss of 1.29% and 1.41%, respectively. The top three mid-cap stocks in the BSE Midcap Index comprised Sun TV, Castrol India and Torrent Power whereas the top three small-cap stocks were Uniphos Enterprises, Centrum Capital and Dhanlaxmi Bank.

On the sectoral front, indices traded in red with the majority of the indices declining more than 1%. BSE IT and BSE Consumer Durables Index plunged more than 2%, underperforming the markets. Telecom stocks are likely to be in focus as the telecom department has invited players for the pre-bid conference on the 5G spectrum. Additionally, the airline stocks will also remain in focus after jet fuel prices rose to 16%, to cope with the soaring global crude oil prices.