Mumbai: Domestic equity markets started on a weak note on Friday, October 3, 2025, as the BSE Sensex dropped 333 points in early trade and the NSE Nifty slipped below 24,800.

At 9:18 am, the Sensex was down 203.29 points, or 0.25 per cent, at 80,780.02 after touching an intraday low of 80,650. The Nifty50 declined 59.95 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 24,776.35, after hitting a day’s low of 24,758.60.

HDFC Bank led the index losers, falling 1.19 per cent to ₹953.75. Eternal shares were down 1.11 per cent, while Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel and Bajaj Finserv also slipped up to 1 per cent. On the positive side, Axis Bank and Tata Steel provided some support to the market.

Global cues were mixed. Overnight, Wall Street ended in the green, with the S&P 500 gaining 0.06 per cent, Nasdaq rising 0.39 per cent, and Dow Jones adding 0.17 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 1.44 per cent and South Korea’s KOSPI jumped 2.70 per cent, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.91 per cent.

On Wednesday, the Sensex had rallied 715.69 points, or 0.89 per cent, to close at 80,983.31, while the Nifty advanced 225.20 points, or 0.92 per cent, to finish at 24,836.30.

Market experts attributed today’s fall to profit-booking after recent sharp gains, with financial and telecom stocks leading the drag.