Mumbai, February 13 Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty fell by over 1% in early trading on Friday, led by sharp losses in IT stocks amid weak global cues and persistent concerns over disruptions caused by artificial intelligence, which weighed on investor sentiment.
The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 883.4 points, or 1.05%, to 82,791.52 in the initial deals. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 262.60 points, or 1.02%, to 25,544.60.
Technology stocks bore the brunt of the selling pressure from the previous session. Major players like Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, and Tech Mahindra were among the biggest decliners on the Sensex.
Eternal, Hindustan Unilever, Adani Ports, Trent, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, IndiGo, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement, and NTPC also traded in the red.
Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, and Bharti Airtel were the only gainers.
The BSE SmallCap Select Index declined by 1.93%, while the MidCap Select Index fell by 1.40%.
"The markets are in a turbulent phase, which will cause some panic among investors while also offering opportunities. The selling of AI stocks in the US markets was expected, but the timing and extent of the selling were not known," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.
He further said, "What is currently affecting the Indian market is the massive selling of IT stocks, which is the second largest profit pool of Indian companies. The real impact of the 'AI disruption' on the IT sector is yet to be determined."
In Asian markets, the Hang Seng benchmark in Hong Kong, the Nikkei 225 index in Japan, and the SSE Composite index in Shanghai were trading lower, while the Kospi in South Korea was in positive territory.
US equities market ended lower on Thursday.
"Wall Street indices fell sharply on Thursday, with the Nasdaq, which is heavily weighted towards technology, slumping by 2%, as investors intensified their selling of technology shares and withdrew from transport stocks amid concerns about artificial intelligence disruption," said Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research, HDFC Securities.
He added that major tech names fell sharply as concerns mounted about AI's potential to disrupt business models.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 108.42 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors were also net buyers of stocks worth Rs 276.85 crore, according to exchange data.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, slipped by 0.16% to USD 67.41 per barrel.
On Thursday, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 558.72 points to settle at 83,674.92. The 50-share NSE Nifty declined by 146.65 points to end at 25,807.20.
