Sensex dips over 200 points while Nifty around 17,000 in early trade

The Sensex fell more than 200 points in early trade on Tuesday, mirroring losses in banking and financial equities on fears about rising oil rates. The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 221.35 points down at 57,071.14. Similarly, the NSE Nifty fell 54.9 points to 17,062.70.

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Hindustan Unilever Limited, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, Nestle India, and Axis Bank were the top drags in the 30-share pack. Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, TCS, and Power Grid, on the other hand, were trading in the green.

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“A hawkish Fed and the US 10-year yield rising to 2.29 per cent are headwinds for the global equity markets. For India, crude jumping to USD 118 from the recent USD 100 levels is again posing a major worry. This kind of short-term volatility in crude is highly unnerving,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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On Monday, the Sensex fell 571.44 points, or 0.99%, to 57,292.49. The Nifty dropped 169.45 points, or 0.98%, to 17,117.60.

In mid-session trades, equity exchanges in Shanghai, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Tokyo were trading higher. In the overnight session, stock markets in the United States closed on a negative note.

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“Oil prices and treasury yields pushed higher as investors refocused on risks from the Russia-Ukraine crisis. The Dow Jones fell 0.58 per cent, S&P 500 lost 0.04 per cent while Nasdaq dropped 0.4 per cent,” according to Mitul Shah, Head of Research at Reliance Securities. The Russia-Ukraine conflict and inflationary pressures are assessing the market sentiment, he added.

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According to stock exchange statistics, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Monday, selling shares worth Rs 2,962.12 crore.

Meanwhile, Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose 2.14% to USD 118.09 a barrel. In early trade, the rupee loses 28 paise to 76.46 against the US dollar.