The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Monday following weak cues from other Asian markets dragged by losses in index heavyweights like Infosys, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and ICICI Bank. Asian share markets mostly eased on Monday after stunningly strong U.S. jobs data soothed concerns about the global economy but also added to the risk of an aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserve.
Geopolitics also remained a worry as the White House warned Russia could invade Ukraine any day and French President Emmanuel Macron prepared for a trip to Moscow, news agency Reuters reported.
As of 9:29 am, the Sensex was down 245 points at 58,400 and Nifty 50 index declined 80 points to 17,436.
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Thirteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the S&P BSE Auto index's nearly 1 per cent decline. Nifty Telecom, Healthcare, FMCG, Finance, Telecom, Capital Goods, Banking and Consumer Durable indices also fell between 0.5-0.9 per cent each.
On the other hand, metal, utilities, power, oil & gas and PSU banking shares were witnessing buying interest.
Mid- and small-cap shares were trading flat as S&P BSE MidCap index fell 0.2 per cent while S&P BSE SmallCap index was trading flat.
Among thge individual shares, State Bank of India jumped nearly 2 per cent to Rs 540 after its net proft jumped 62 per cent to Rs 8,432 crore in December quarter. Its net interest income or the difference between interest earned on loans and interest expended on deposits advanced 6.5 per cent to Rs 30,687 crore versus Rs 28,820 crore in the year ago period.
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Bank of Baroda climbed nearly 8 per cent to Rs 115 after it reported doubling of its net profit to Rs 2,197 crore on a standalone basis in the quarter ended in December 2021. The lender had posted a net profit of Rs 1,061 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
Infosys was top Nifty loser, the stock fell nearly 1 per cent to Rs 1,725. Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, HCL Technologies, Nestle India, Dr Reddy's Labs and Wipro also fell between 0.86-1.2 per cent.
On the flipside, Power Grid, SBI, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki and Tech Mahindra were among the gainers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,260 shares were advancing while 554 were declining on the BSE.
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