Sensex declines 400 points in early trade; Nifty tests 17,690 level

Equity benchmark indices opened on a muted note on Monday, with the Sensex falling nearly 400 points in early trade, dragged down by index heavyweights Infosys, Reliance Industries and HDFC twins amid an overall weak trend in Asian markets.

The Sensex was trading 398.98 points lower at 59,048.20 in early trade. The Nifty declined 94.6 points to 17,689.75.

From the 30-share pack, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Wipro, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance Industries, M&M, HDFC and HDFC Bank were the major laggards in early trade.

In contrast, NTPC, Power Grid Corporation, Tata Steel and State Bank of India were among the gainers.

On Friday, the BSE Sensex climbed 412.23 points or 0.70 per cent to settle at 59,447.18, while the Nifty gained 144.80 points or 0.82 per cent to finish at 17,784.35.

In Asia, markets in Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, and Tokyo were trading lower in mid-session deals.

Stocks in the US ended mostly lower on Friday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude declined 2.39 per cent to USD 100.32 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors continued to offload shares worth Rs 575.04 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said, Q4 results, particularly of leading financials, and guidance from IT majors will influence the market in the coming days.