Opening Bell: Nifty gives up 15,300, Sensex sheds over 300 points; Metal lone gainer in falling market

Tracking weakness from overnight correction in the US benchmark indices, the domestic equity market opened on a negative note on Friday. The broader Nifty50 gave up 15300 to slip below to open at 15,272.65 and Sensex shed over 300 points to start near 51,181.99 as benchmarks opened with more than half per cent cuts on Friday.  

In the broader market, Nifty midcap and smallcap were trading lower by 1.3% each as India VIX climbed past 23-mark 

On the sectoral front, except Metal, all Nifty sectoral indices opened in the red.  

In the pre-open, the Sensex declined by more than 300 points as only four stocks advanced and 26 declined on the 30-share index.  

The dominant theme impacting equity markets globally is the synchronised global monetary tightening and the consequent fears of economic slowdown, said  V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

"The probability of the US slipping into recession is much higher now. Markets are discounting these concerns. The PE of S&P 500 is now around 16, close to the long-term average. Europe is trading at around 11 times. Markets will bottom out earlier than the economy does,"said the expert. 

In India, valuations have declined, but are even now above long-term average, he said.

"So, FPIs will continue to sell, capping a relief rally which can come any time. It is impossible to predict the market bottom. Ideal Investment strategy now should be calibrated buying in high quality growth stocks. Mutual fund SIP investors can consider increasing the amount of investment," the expert advised. 

Earlier, SGX Nifty Futures rose 80 points on the Singaporean exchange minutes before opening of the Indian market.  

The cues from major Asian indices were mixed on Friday as Japanese Nikkei 225 slumped 2.3%, Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchange traded higher by nearly one per cent and Chinese Shanghai Composite was up around 0.4% in the early trade on Friday. 

On Thursday, the US markets ended in red amid fears of recession as Dow Jones closed with nearly 2.5% cuts, Nasdaq settled with over 4% fall and S&P 500 ended lower by more than 3% decline.