Mumbai, April 28: The Indian stock market opened on a weak note on Tuesday, continuing the trend of declining values amid rising crude oil prices. As of 9:17 AM, the Sensex was down by 203 points or 0.25%, standing at 77,099, while the Nifty fell by 50 points or 0.24% to 24,042.
Banking stocks led the early selling, with the Nifty Bank index dropping over half a percent. Other sectors such as Financial Services, Nifty Pharma, Nifty Services, and Nifty Healthcare also traded in the red. In contrast, sectors like Nifty Energy, Nifty India Defense, Nifty Commodities, Nifty Media, Nifty Metal, Nifty PSU, Nifty Oil and Gas, Nifty Infra, and Nifty Auto showed positive performance.
Midcap and small-cap stocks, however, experienced gains, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index rising by 157 points or 0.26% to 60,405, and the Nifty Smallcap index up by 103 points to 18,004.
Among the gainers in the Sensex pack were Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, BEL, M&M, L&T, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, TCS, Maruti Suzuki, Titan, ITC, NTPC, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Power Grid, and Sun Pharma. Conversely, losers included SBI, Ultratech Cement, Indigo, Axis Bank, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, HUL, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank.
Most Asian markets showed mixed trading, with Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong in the red, while Bangkok and Seoul managed to stay positive. The U.S. stock market closed on Monday with the Dow Jones down by 0.13%, while the technology index Nasdaq rose by 0.20%.
The weakness in the market is attributed to the continuous rise in crude oil prices, which reached around $110 per barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude prices increased by 0.97% to $109 per barrel, while WTI crude rose by 1.05% to $97.38 per barrel.
Reports indicate that the surge in crude oil prices comes at a time when the U.S. has rejected Iran’s peace proposal, which included opening the Strait of Hormuz and negotiating on its nuclear program after the lifting of U.S. maritime sanctions. The U.S. believes that both issues should be resolved together to avoid weakening its position.
Bhupendra Singh Chundawat is a seasoned technology journalist with over 22 years of experience in the media industry. He specializes in covering the global technology landscape, with a deep focus on manufacturing trends and the geopolitical impact on tech companies. Currently serving as the Editor at Udaipur Kiran, his insights are shaped by decades of hands-on reporting and editorial leadership in the fast-evolving world of technology.
