Sensex falls nearly 285 points, Nifty slips below 24,300 in early trade

Indian equity benchmarks opened lower on Monday as firm crude oil prices and persistent geopolitical tensions in West Asia kept investors cautious.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 284.85 points in early trading to 77,717.05, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 69.25 points to 24,297.05.

Information technology stocks led the losses, with Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra among the biggest laggards in the Sensex pack. Hindustan Unilever and State Bank of India also traded lower.

Bharat Electronics and Titan were the only Sensex constituents to register gains during initial trading.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.43 per cent to $88.86 a barrel, adding to concerns about inflation and India’s import costs.

Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, founder and chief executive officer of research analyst firm HST Wealth, said crude oil remained the primary concern for the market.

Brent was holding close to $88 a barrel after renewed warnings from the United States against Iran drove prices higher on Friday, maintaining the geopolitical risk premium in energy markets, he added.

Ponmudi R, chief executive officer of online trading and wealth-tech firm Enrich Money, said Indian equities were likely to remain range-bound with a cautious bias as continuing tensions in the Middle East weakened investors’ appetite for risk.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225, China’s SSE Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng traded higher. US stock markets closed lower on Friday.

Foreign institutional investors purchased Indian equities worth ₹508.12 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

In the previous session, the Sensex had closed 70.71 points, or 0.09 per cent, lower at 78,009.25. The Nifty had declined 29.85 points, or 0.12 per cent, to settle at 24,366.

With PTI inputs