Stock market today (AI image)

Stock market today: Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, the equity benchmarks, crashed in opening trade on Friday amid weak global cues and the continued IT stocks selloff. While Nifty50 went below 25,600, BSE Sensex was down over 700 points. At 9:16 AM, Nifty50 was trading at 25,592.75, down 214 points or 0.83%. BSE Sensex was at 82,931.27, down 744 points or 0.89%.Markets are likely to trade in a range in the near term, with movement largely driven by stock-specific developments as the December quarter earnings season draws to a close.Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited says, “Markets have fallen into a turbulent phase which will cause some panic among investors even while offering opportunities. The sell off in AI stocks in US markets was expected but the timing and extent of the sell-off was not known. The 2.04% decline in Nasdaq is not a crash. But if the downtrend continues it might pull the US market down. For the Indian market, this correction in AI stocks is a positive, because last year’s global rally was primarily an AI trade in which India, an AI laggard, couldn’t participate. So the unwinding of the AI trade, If it persists, is a positive from the Indian perspective. However, what is rattling the Indian market now is the massive sell-off in IT stocks, which is the second largest profit pool of India Inc. The real impact of the ‘Anthropic shock’ on the IT sector is yet to be ascertained. Panic selling in IT stocks at this stage may not be a good idea. Investors may wait and watch for the dust to settle. The market turbulence can be used to accumulate high quality growth stocks, particularly those that have come out with good Q3 results. Auto stocks are likely to remain resilient, given the excellent results and growth prospects. Therefore, any downtrend in this segment due to market turbulence can offer buying opportunities.”Investors are expected to shift their focus to upcoming global inflation data, trade-related developments, and foreign institutional investor flows, while concerns around artificial intelligence-led disruptions may continue to contribute to market volatility.Wall Street benchmarks ended sharply lower on Thursday. The technology-heavy Nasdaq dropped about 2 percent as investors accelerated selling in technology stocks and moved away from transport shares amid rising concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on businesses.Asian markets also retreated from recent highs, tracking weakness in US technology stocks. Fresh worries about how artificial intelligence could affect multiple sectors weighed on sentiment and prompted investors to move toward safer assets such as US Treasuries.Foreign portfolio investors were net buyers of equities worth Rs 108 crore on Thursday. Domestic institutional investors also remained net buyers, purchasing shares worth Rs 277 crore, according to exchange data.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market, other asset classes or personal finance management tips given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)