Mumbai, Oct 18 : The Indian stock market again opened in the red on Friday amid growing geopolitical tensions between Iran and Israel and weak global cues. In early trade, selling was seen in the Information Technology (IT), auto, pharma and Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) bank sectors.

The Sensex was trading at 80,752.18 after slipping 254.43 points or 0.31 per cent. At the same time, the Nifty opened trading at 24,675.30 after falling 74.55 points or 0.3 per cent.

The market trend remained negative. On the NSE, 283 stocks were trading in the green, while 1,941 stocks were trading in the red. At the same time, 588 stocks were trading in green and 2,166 stocks were trading in red on the BSE.

Nifty Bank was at 51,055.00 after falling 233.80 points or 0.46 per cent. Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 57, 636.95 level after falling 829 points or 1.42 per cent. At the same time, Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 18,673.75 after falling 392.20 points or 2.06 per cent.

Wipro, Axis Bank and TCS were the top gainers in the Nifty pack. Bajaj Auto, Titan Company, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki and Shri Ram Finance were the top losers.

In Asian markets, except Seoul, the stock markets of Bangkok, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Jakarta and Tokyo were trading in the green. The US stock market closed in the green on the last trading day.

According to market experts, the 6 per cent correction in Nifty from the peak has made India an underperformer with only a 13.83 per cent return year-to-date (YTD), in contrast to the 23.16 per cent return in the S&P 500 YTD.

The Hang Seng index, with a 23.16 per cent return YTD, has been the best-performing market in recent weeks assisted by massive buying by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).

Experts said trends indicate that FII selling and DII buying were likely to continue. A bounce back was likely in the next two or three days but it is unlikely to be sustained since sentiments have weakened.

/IANS