Here's how the Markets opened today

The Nifty opened gap down and headed lower on Friday as traders used the previous day's rally to go short on the market in the face of flat-to-weak overseas cues.

The Nifty plunged 154 points to 7,669 in early deals. Banks remained the top selling sector for traders. As a consequence, Yes Bank, Kotak Bank, PNB, Bank of Baroda and Axis Bank took the top five slots on the downside on the Nifty. Cipla, Zee, Lupin, BPCL and Wipro posted modest gains. The Advance-Decline Ratio was 9/41.

ICICI Bank, Cipla and State Bank of India were the three top traded stocks on the National Stock Exchange.

There was across the board selling in the wider markets. The Bank Nifty lost 2.5 percent to 16,150 points. Broader indices such as the CNX 100, CNX 200 and CNX 500 lost between 1.6-2.2 percent.

All major sector-based indexes posted losses of between 1.3-2.7 percent in the first 20 minutes of trade.

The Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange dropped 376 points to 25,389 in early Friday deals. Tata Steel, Axis Bank and Tata Motors were the top 3 losers on the Sensex while Cipla, Wipro and Bharti posted gains.

SBI, ICICI Bank and Cipla were the top traded stocks on the Index.

Front month Nifty futures dropped 2.2 percent to 7,675 points, a major support level for the Index. Just 3 stock futures gained versus 158 that lost ground.

Image credit: Indiatimes