Auto and Realty Lead the Open, But IT Stocks Struggle

Markets kicked off the week on a firm note, with the Sensex jumping over 400 points (0.6%) to 74,740.59 and the Nifty holding near 23,300-23,400 as risk sentiment improved on falling oil prices. Nifty IT is confirmed as the worst-performing sector at today's open, even as pharma, FMCG, auto, and realty are seeing early buying interest.

enters today's session as the stock under the most pressure. It was the single biggest laggard among Nifty constituents both on Friday (down 3.88%, the steepest individual move of the week) and for the week overall, so today's weak IT open is landing on a stock that was already the sector's sorest spot. This isn't a one-day story for IT. The sector has been the worst-performing group on the Nifty for multiple sessions running, with the broader IT index still down roughly 24% for the year on concerns over frozen US tech spending and AI-linked disruption fears. Auto and realty are leading today's gains, benefiting directly from falling oil prices, which ease cost pressures for auto makers and support the outlook for rate-sensitive realty names. Broader markets are lagging the headline indices, Midcap fell 0.18% and Smallcap slipped 0.03% even as the Sensex and Nifty opened higher, suggesting today's rally is concentrated in large caps rather than broad-based. The Nifty has now recovered over 50% of the sharp 474-point fall from September 15, a genuine sign of stabilization even though the index is still down for a sixth straight week on a weekly basis.