Stock Market Opening Bell: Nifty gives up 16,300, Sensex sheds 300 points; all sectoral indices in red

Following global market cues, the Indian market extended the losses as it opened in the red. Benchmarks Nifty50 and Sensex declined by more tan half per cent in the opening trade.  

The broader Nifty50 slipped below 16,300 and the Sensex tanked by over 300 points to start at 16,263.85 and 54,514.17 respectively on Thursday. 

Following headline indices, Nifty mid cap and small cap dropped by around 0.6% each in the broader market.  

On Sectoral-front, all Nifty indices slipped in the red with IT and Realty taking the maximum beatings on Thursday.

"With the monetary policy coming on expected lines without any significant market impact, the focus now will be on the US inflation data and its implications for interest rates and equity markets. The fact that the trading volume in US markets is very low indicates that the market is waiting for direction. Big market moves are likely after the data is out," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In India, the near-term texture of the market is 'sell on rallies', said Vijaykumar.

"FPI's sustained selling has become almost predictable. Only a declining inflation rate in the US and the possibility of the Fed turning less hawkish than now can change the trend of FPI selling. FPI selling in banking stocks has led to depressed valuations in this segment, particularly in high quality banking majors. This is an opportunity for medium- long- term investors," the expert sugested. 

In the pre-open, minutes before opening, the Sensex dropped over 350 points and 29 stocks declined, and one remained neutral on the 30-share Sensex.  

Earlier, the Asian markets were trading mixed on Thursday morning.  

SGX Nifty Futures was trading lower by nearly 80 points on the Singaporean Exchange, while Japanese Nikkei 225, Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchange traded flat in the early trade on Thursday. Chinese Shanghai Composite was trading lower by around 0.10% around the same time.