The Indian equity benchmarks opened on a flat note on Monday. At 9:18 am, the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 22 points or 0.04 per cent at 52,885, whereas the Nifty 50 index advanced 21 points or 01.14 per cent at 15,773.
Amongst the broader indices, Nifty Midcap 50 index advanced 0.21 per cent at 7,370, whereas the Nifty Midcap 100 index surged 0.26 per cent at 26,657. Barring the stocks of auto, IT, metal, realty, consumer durables and oil & gas, all other sectoral indices witnessed buying in early trade.
IndusInd Bank, PowerGrid, Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank and HCL Tech were the top gainers, whereas ONGC, Tata Steel, Hindalco, JSW Steel and Mahindra & Mahindra were the top losers.
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In Asia, the major indices were trading lower in early trade on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei fell1.3 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.7 per cent and South Korea’s KOSPI declined 1.2 per cent.
Back home, the foreign institutional investors remained the net sellers on Friday worth Rs 2,325 crore, whereas the domestic institutional investors remained the net buyer's worth Rs 1,311 crore. On Friday, Rupee rebounded from its all-time low to close 12 paise higher at 78.94 against the US Dollar.
On Monday, crude oil prices fell paring gains from the previous sessions, as fears of a global recession hurt the market sentiments amidst the lower OPEC output, unrest in Libya, and sanctions on Russia.
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Brent crude futures for September declined 36 cents or 0.3 per cent to $111.27 per barrel at 0300 GMT, whereas the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for August delivery slipped 34 cents or 0.3 per cent to $108 per barrel.
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