Stock Market: Sensex Sheds Over 350 Points, Nifty Trades Below 17,750 Amid Mixed Cues. ITC Up 1 Per Cent

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, Tata Steel, Infosys, Nestle, Wipro, HCL, HUL were the prime losers. On the flip side, ITC, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, and HDFC Bank were the only winners

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Monday opened lower in early morning trade tracking mixed global sentiments.

 At 9.35 am, the S&P BSE Sensex slumped 355 points to 60,487, while the NSE Nifty50 was trading at 17,715, down 138 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Tata Steel, Infosys, Nestle, Wipro, HCL, HUL were the prime losers. On the flip side, ITC, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, and HDFC Bank were the only winners.   

In the broader markets, Nifty MidCap 100 and Nifty SmallCap 100 indices climbed up to 0.3 per cent.

Sectorally, Nifty PSU Bank index was off to a positive start, while the Nifty Metal index was the worst hit as it lowered over 1 per cent.

Among individual stocks, shares of ITC gained over 1 per cent after the conglomerate posted 21 per cent YoY in profit at Rs 5,031 crore in Q3FY23. Besides, shares of SBI surged over 1 per cent after the public sector lender registered 8.5 percent YoY growth in standalone profit at Rs 14,205 crore in Q3FY23.

On Friday, the Sensex surged 909.64 points or 1.52 per cent to settle at 60,841.88 points while the Nifty advanced 243.65 points or 1.38 per cent to end at 17,854.05 points.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul were trading with losses in mid-session deals while Tokyo market was in the positive territory on Monday. The Wall Street ended lower on Friday.

Investors will also be watching the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy decision later this week. With retail inflation showing signs of softening and the US Fed moderating the pace of increase in its benchmark interest rate, the RBI is likely to settle for a smaller 25 basis points repo rate hike.

Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated 42 paise to 82.50 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, weighed down by a strong American currency and a muted trend in domestic equities.

Sustained foreign fund outflows and firm crude oil prices further dented investor sentiments, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened weak at 82.35 against the dollar, then fell to 82.50, registering a decline of 42 paise over its last close. In the previous session on Friday, the rupee settled at 82.08 against the US dollar.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 0.25 per cent to $80.14 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Friday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 932.44 crore, according to exchange data.