The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Monday opened flat in early trade despite strong sentiment in global markets. The S&P BSE Sensex fell over 100 points, while the Nifty50 went below 19,650 levels. However, the two indices pared their losses gradually amid volatility.


At 9.35 am, the BSE Sensex was marginally up by 18 points to 66,178. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty was trading at 19,648, up by 2 points.


On the 30-share Sensex platform, NTPC, PowerGrid, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Tata Motors, TCS were trading in the green during early trade. On the downside, Asia Paints, Bajaj Finance, Airtel, ITC, Kotak Bank, Sun Pharma emerged losers. Among individual stocks, shares of Piramal Enterprises tumbled 5 per cent on 94 per cent year-on-year (YoY) decline in net profit in the June quarter.






In the broader markets, Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices gained up to 0.5 per cent.


Sectorwise, metal and power rose 1 per cent each, while FMCG index was down 0.5 per cent.


In the previous session on Friday, the S&P BSE Sensex settled at 66,160, down 107 points, while the NSE Nifty50 closed with a minor loss of 14 points at 19,646.


"In India even though the underlying strength of the market is strong, FPI selling of Rs 5,000 crore during the last two trading sessions might restrain the bulls," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.


Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,023.91 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.


In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading in the green. The US markets had ended in the positive territory on Friday.


Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.58 per cent lower at $84.50 a barrel.


Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated 7 paise to 82.25 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, tracking a strong American currency and outflow of foreign funds from domestic equity markets. Elevated level of crude prices crossing $84 a barrel and subdued sentiment in the domestic equity markets also weighed on the Indian currency, forex traders said.


At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 82.23, then touched a high of 82.21 against the American currency. It later traded at 82.25, registering a fall of 7 paise over its previous close. On Friday, the rupee had settled at 82.18 against the dollar.