The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Monday were trading lower tracking negative Asian sentiment. At 9.45 am, the BSE Sensex dropped 344 points to 63,438. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 was trading at 18,944, down 103 points.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Tata Motors, M&M, Maruti, Bajaj twins, NTPC emerged losers. On the flip side, Reliance, TechM, TCS, and UltraCemco were among the gainers. Among specific stocks, Reliance went up 1.42 per cent following a strong set of earnings on Friday.
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index sank 0.7 per cent while Smallcap index was dipped 0.5 per cent.
Sectorwise, except oil and gas, all other indices are trading in the negative zone.
In the previous session on Friday, the S&P BSE Sensex surged 635 points to end at 63,783, while the Nifty50 closed at 19,047, up 190 points.
In Asia, Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading in the negative zone, while Seoul and Shanghai were quoted in the green. The US markets ended mostly lower on Friday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.23 per cent to $89.37 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,500.13 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have pulled out over Rs 20,300 crore from Indian equities this month so far, primarily due to a sharp surge in the US treasury yield, and the uncertain environment resulting from the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Meanwhile, the Indian rupee was trading in a narrow range against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, amid a negative trend in domestic equities. Forex traders said the rupee is trading in a narrow range as sustained foreign fund outflows and strength of the American currency in the overseas market weighed on investor sentiments.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 83.25 against the dollar and then touched an early high of 83.24, and a low of 83.26 against the greenback. On Friday, the rupee settled at 83.25 against the US dollar.