Stock Market: Sensex Declines 330 Points, Nifty Trades Below 17,000 On Weak Cues

Stock Update: Wipro was the top loser, down 2.72 points, while other losers were SBI, Titan, Asian Paints, Infosys, Sun Pharma, TechM, and others

New Delhi: The key benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, on Monday opened lower in early trade due to weak global cues, with the Sensex tumbling over 648 points.

At 10.15 am, the 30-share BSE Sensex, while recouping some of the losses, was trading at 56,731, down 330 points. The broader NSE Nifty was down 105 points to 16,996.

On the BSE platform, Wipro was the top loser, down 2.72 points, while other losers were SBI, Titan, Asian Paints, Infosys, Sun Pharma, TechM, and others.

On the flip side, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, HDFC twins, Power Grid, Axis Bank, and others were trading in the green.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were also in the red, down up to 0.6 per cent.

On NSE, 14 out of the 15 sector gauges were trading in the negative zone. Sectorwise, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty IT were underperforming the index by falling about 1.43 per cent and 1.08 per cent, respectively. Nifty Auto, financials, metals, and consumer durables were also on the laggards, down up to 1 per cent. Meanwhile, Nifty private bank turned flat.

In the previous trading on Friday, Sensex sank 460 points (0.80 per cent) to close at 57,061, while Nifty was down 142 points (0.83 per cent) lower to close at 17,103.

In the Asian markets in Seoul and Tokyo, indices were trading lower during mid-session deals, while in the US, stocks had ended significantly lower on Friday.

"Asian markets are trading negative in the early Monday trade. Financial markets in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand are closed on Monday for public holidays," Mohit Nigam, head of PMS, Hem Securities, told the PTI.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.87 per cent to $106.21 per barrel.

According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) again offloaded shares worth Rs 3,648.30 crore on Friday after they turned net buyers on Thursday,

"The excessive volatility in the market is likely to continue for some time. The sharp sell-off in US markets on Friday is an indication of the nervousness and fear in the market caused by an increasingly hawkish Fed, rising dollar index and the prolonging war in Ukraine," V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, told the PTI.