Stock Market Today: Sensex Tumbles Over 800 points At Open As West Asia Tensions, AI Stock Sell-Off Rattle Markets

Stock Market Today: Equity markets opened weaker on June 8 as fresh escalation in West Asia conflict pushed crude oil prices higher, and a global sell-off in artificial intelligence-linked stocks weighed on investor sentiment.

The BSE Sensex opened with a gap down of 821.73 points, or 1.11 per cent, at 73,421.61. The NSE Nifty 50 started the session down 286 points, or 1.22 per cent, at 23,080.70.

Selling pressure was visible across the broader market as well. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 declined more than 1.25 per cent each in early trade. The Nifty 500, which accounts for over 92 per cent of the total free-float market capitalisation of all NSE-listed companies, also slipped more than 1 per cent.

Wipro led the losses among Nifty 50 stocks, slipping more than 3.5 per cent in early trade. Hindalco, Bajaj Finance and Shriram Finance were also among the major losers, each falling over 2 per cent.

Selling pressure was widespread across sectors, with stocks such as Eternal, IndiGo, Asian Paints, Tata Motors, Trent, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Max Healthcare, Jio Financial Services, Tata Steel, Tata Consumer Products and Tata Consultancy Services declining between 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent.

Defensive pharma and healthcare names provided some support to the market. Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Apollo Hospitals traded higher, emerging among the few gainers on the benchmark indices.

Sectorally, losses were led by the realty, metal and auto indices. The Nifty Realty index fell 1.79 per cent, followed by Nifty Metal at 1.69 per cent and Nifty Auto at 1.60 per cent. Nifty IT declined 1.54 per cent, while Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty FMCG lost 1.16 per cent, 1.21 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.

Defensive sectors outperformed the broader market, with the Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare indices gaining around 0.50 per cent each.