Opening Bell: Markets open lower following global cues; metal, oil and gas and power indices outperform

Metal, Oil & Gas and Power indices along with Utilities traded 1 per cent to 3 per cent higher gaining investor's attention.

The markets opened down by more than 500 points down amid weaker global cues on Wednesday. The Sensex opened at 55,629.30 and at 9.30 am it was seen trading 569.10 points or 1.01 per cent down, whereas Nifty opened at 16,593.10 and traded lower by 0.88 per cent or 146.95 points. 

The domestic benchmark Indices followed trends on SGX Nifty. On the previous day, US markets fell more than 1.5 per cent while the UK, French and German markets fell by 1.7 per cent, 3.9 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively. Asian Stocks were also seen trading in negative territory in the early Wednesday trade.

In the broader markets, at 9.30 am, the BSE Midcap index was trading at 23,409.53, up by 0.23 per cent and BSE Smallcap index was at 26,803.02, 0.53 per cent higher. Similarly, Nifty Midcap 100 was at 28,270.15 up by 0.21 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 was at 9,913.55, gaining 0.7 per cent. 

The top gaining stocks within Sensex are Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid Corporation, NTPC, Reliance and Tech Mahindra. On the flip side, the top losers are Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Among the Nifty gainers, the top stocks are Coal India, ONGC, Hindalco, Tata Steel, UPL and SBI Life. The top losing stocks dragging the Nifty 50 index are Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank

India VIX, the fear gauge of domestic markets, was seen moving higher on Wednesday, regaining 29 levels.

The top trending stocks on BSE, this morning comprised Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, HDFC, TCS and Reliance Industries.

Talking about the sectoral indices Finance, Telecom, Auto, Bankex and Realty were down by the majority. On the other hand, Metal, Oil & Gas and Power indices along with Utilities traded 1 per cent to 3 per cent higher gaining investor's attention.