Opening Bell: Nifty slips below 15,700, Sensex sheds over 350 points; Auto, Consumer Durables worst hit

The Indian market dropped for the third consecutive day amid weak global cues on Friday. Benchmarks declined in the opening trade as broader Nifty50 opened just above 15,700 And the Sensex near 52,900. Soon after the opening, the Nity50 slipped below 15,700, while the 30-share index dropped over 350 points, taking a hit of more than half per cent.  

In the broader market, Nifty midcap and small cap declined around 0.4% and 0.3% respectively  

Among sectoral indices, except Nifty IT, all indices slipped in the red. Auto and Consumer Durables were the worst hit, declining by 1-1.8% in the opening trade.   

"H1 of 2022 has ended with the benchmark S&P 500 correcting sharply by 21 % - the worst half since 1970. This weakness has reflected declines in other markets too. But it is important to appreciate the fact that India has outperformed with Nifty correcting only around 9%," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. 

With the economy showing signs of "gradual recovery despite global headwinds" (RBI), the prospects for H2 appear better for markets, the expert underlined.  

"Leading indicators suggest improving prospects for banking, IT, telecom and autos. Stock price movements in the near-term in July will be in anticipation of better-than-expected Q2 results in these segments. Metals stocks are likely to bottom out absorbing the poor Q1 results," he added.  

In the pre-open, the Sensex declined over 150 points as 11 stocks advanced and 19 declined on the 30-share index.  

Earlier, the cues from the Asian and global markets remained negative on Friday.  

Hinting at another weak opening for the domestic market, the futures index at SGX Nifty declined nearly 40 points on the Singaporean exchange around 8 am on Friday. Meanwhile Japanese Nikkei 225 dropped 0.6% Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong exchange fell 0.7% and Chinese Shanghai Composite was trading lower by around 0.2% in eearly trade on Friday.  

On Thursday, in the US market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 253.88 points, or 0.82%, to 30,775.43, the S&P 500 lost 33.45 points, or 0.88%, to 3,785.38 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 149.16 points, or 1.33%, to 11,028.74.