Opening Movers: Domestic markets open on a red note; HUL, NTPC and Asian Paints emerge as the only gainers

 Sensex shed 400 points on opening with the majority of Sensex stocks trading lower.

In the previous trading session, Sensex fell 48.99 points to end at 59,196.99, whereas Nifty50 ended at 17,655.60 level, down 10.20 points. Main indices on Wall Street closed lower on Tuesday along with the Tokyo stock exchange which opened lower on Wednesday.

BSE Sensex tumbled 400 points, whereas Nifty50 traded below the 17,500 level. Among the Sensex pack, HUL, NTPC, and Asian Paints were the only gainers, while the top stocks dragging the index comprised Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, and HCL Technologies contracting up to 1.81%.

The broader markets traded higher with the BSE Midcap and SmallCap indices trading 0.18% and 0.28% up. Nuvoco Vistas Corporation, ACC, and Gujarat Gas were the top midcap gainers whereas Arvind SmartSpaces, Shree Pushkar Chemicals & Fertilisers and Responsive Industries were the top small-cap gainers.

On the sectoral front, the indices were trading marginally lower with the BSE Realty Index and BSE Bankex facing the highest drag losing 0.82% and 0.79%, respectively. Sunteck Realty, Phoenix and Oberoi Realty were the realty stocks trading up to 3.2% lower. Nifty FMCG sector is faring well in today’s trading session adding 0.48%.

Fertiliser stocks are likely to be in focus today as the Government may turn attention towards the privatisation of PSUs in the sector. Among the fertiliser stocks, Nagarjuna Fertilisers, FACT and Basant Agrotech have already gained up to 4.9% in an otherwise weak market. Suzlon Energy is another stock that should be on investors' radar as the company has won an order to set up a 180.6 MW wind energy project from Sembcorp's arm Green Infra Wind Energy and the project is expected to be commissioned in 2024.