Sensex falls over 190 pts in early trade; Nifty slips below 17,350

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex declined over 190 points in early trade on Monday, tracking losses in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Infosys amid weak sentiment in Asian markets.

The 30-share Sensex was trading 193.16 points or 0.33 per cent lower at 58,111.91. Similarly, Nifty fell 37.90 points or 0.22 per cent to 17,331.35 in initial deals.

HCL Tech was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding 1.39 per cent, followed by Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Nestle India, Axis Bank, Titan and IndusInd Bank.

On the other hand, HDFC, Bharti Airtel, Maruti, ITC, Kotak Bank and Tata Steel were among the gainers.

In the previous session on Thursday, the 30-share Sensex ended 54.81 points or 0.09 per cent higher at 58,305.07 — its all-time closing high. The NSE Nifty rose 15.75 points or 0.09 per cent to settle at 17,369.25.

Markets were closed on Friday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi’.

In Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong were trading on a negative note in mid-session deals. Tokyo also closed in the red.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 423.44 crore on Thursday, as per provisional exchange data.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.62 per cent to USD 73.37 per barrel.