Sensex tanks over 640 points while Nifty around 16,900 in early trade

Benchmark equity indexes remained weak on Monday, with the Sensex down more than 648 points in early trade, mirroring selling in index heavyweights Infosys, Reliance Industries, and HDFC Bank, as well as lacklustre global trends.

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The 30-share BSE index was down 648.25 points at 56,412.62. The Nifty fell 185.3 points to 16,917.25.

Titan, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Maruti, and Bajaj Finserv were the Sensex pack’s early laggards. IndusInd Bank, NTPC, and Axis Bank, on the other hand, benefited.

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In mid-session trade, Asian markets in Seoul and Tokyo were trading lower. Stocks in the United States finished considerably down on Friday.

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“Asian markets are trading negative in the early Monday trade. Financial markets in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand are closed on Monday for public holidays,” said Mohit Nigam, Head – PMS, Hem Securities.

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On Friday, the BSE benchmark fell 460.19 points, or 0.80%, to conclude at 57,060.87. The Nifty fell 142.50 points (0.83%) to 17,102.55.

“The excessive volatility in the market is likely to continue for some time. The sharp sell-off in US markets on Friday is an indication of the nervousness and fear in the market caused by an increasingly hawkish Fed, rising dollar index and the prolonging war in Ukraine,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

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According to stock exchange statistics, foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 3,648.30 crore on Friday after being net purchasers on Thursday.

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Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.87% to USD 106.21 a barrel. The rupee rose 6 paise to 76.44 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday.