Sensex Slips 300 Points In Early Trade, Nifty Below 17,500 Mark

The Indian equity benchmarks opened on a flat note on Monday. The Sensex plunged as much as 58,487, whereas the Nifty 50 index slipped below 17,447. 

At 9:21 am, the BSE Sensex was trading 99.25 points or 0.17 per cent lower at 58,741, whereas the Nifty 50 index declined 24.25 points or 0.14 per cent lower at 17,506. Amongst the broader indices, the Nifty Midcap 50 index was trading 0.27 per cent lower at 8,549, whereas the Nifty Midcap 100 index plunged 0.43 per cent at 31,359. Barring the stocks of oil and gas and banking, all other sectoral indices were trading in the red.  

On Friday, the US stocks fell broadly indicating s stark warning from the US Federal Reserve about rapidly worsening trends in the economy. The S&P500 index traded 28.02 points or 0.7 per cent lower at 3,873, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 139.40 points or 0.5 per cent lower at 30,822. While the Nasdaq slipped 103.95 points or 0.9 per cent at 11,448,  the Russell 2000 for smaller companies declined 27.04 points or 1.5 per cent to 1,798. 

Meanwhile, the Asian stocks on Monday were trading lower.  Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 plunged 1.11 per cent, whereas South Korea’s KOSPI declined 0.91 per cent. Singapore’s Hang Seng index was trading 1.14 per cent lower. China’s Shanghai Composite plunged 0.36 per cent, whereas Shenzhen Component was trading higher at 0.40 per cent. 

Back home, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Infosys, the State Bank of India, Axis Bank, and HDFC Bank were amongst the top gainers, whereas UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints, Titan, Dr. Reddy, Tata Steel, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance and Sun Pharma were amongst the top losers.