New Delhi, 24 July (H.S.): Domestic equity markets witnessed sharp selling pressure during early trade on Friday as a surge in global crude oil prices and weak international market cues weighed heavily on investor sentiment. Both the Sensex and the Nifty opened lower and, despite a brief recovery driven by buying interest, selling soon intensified, pushing the benchmark indices deeper into negative territory.

After the first hour of trading, the BSE Sensex was down 1.16 per cent, while the NSE Nifty had declined 1.07 per cent.

Among the frontline stocks, Cipla, HCL Technologies, Nestlé India, Tata Consumer Products and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries were the top gainers, advancing between 0.07 per cent and 2.56 per cent.

On the other hand, Shriram Finance, InterGlobe Aviation, Bharti Airtel, Eternal and Bajaj Finance emerged as the biggest laggards, declining between 2.08 per cent and 2.78 per cent.

Market breadth remained decisively negative. Out of 2,732 actively traded stocks, only 545 were trading in the green, while 2,187 stocks were in negative territory.

Among the 30 Sensex constituents, only one stock was trading with gains, while the remaining 29 were under selling pressure. On the Nifty, four of the 50 constituent stocks were trading higher, whereas 46 were in the red.

The BSE Sensex opened 638.20 points, or 0.89 per cent, lower at 75,708.19. Soon after the opening bell, buying support helped the index recover nearly 288 points to touch an intraday high of 75,995.73. However, the rebound proved short-lived as fresh selling pushed the benchmark lower. The index later slipped to an intraday low of 75,491.82.

At 10:15 a.m., the Sensex was trading at 75,505.07, down 886.32 points from the previous close.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty opened 203.25 points, or 0.85 per cent, lower at 23,666.35. Early buying lifted the index to an intraday high of 23,763.55, but sustained selling pressure erased those gains.

Although buyers attempted to support the market intermittently, persistent selling prevented any meaningful recovery. At 10:15 a.m., the Nifty was trading at 23,615.00, down 254.60 points.

In the previous trading session on Thursday, the Sensex had closed 363.66 points, or 0.47 per cent, lower at 76,391.39, while the Nifty settled 126.65 points, or 0.53 per cent, down at 23,869.60.

Market participants are closely tracking global crude oil prices, overseas market movements and macroeconomic developments, which continue to influence investor sentiment in domestic equities.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar