The Indian stock market opened lower on Monday, the first trading day of the week, with both the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 trading in the red amid mixed signals from global markets and investor caution. Selling was seen in shares of several major companies during early trade, weighing on the benchmark indices.
IndiGo, Infosys and Tata Steel were among the major stocks that recorded notable declines in early trading. Several leading stocks across the banking, auto, IT and metal sectors also remained under pressure.
The BSE Sensex opened at 77,130.73, down 133.78 points, or 0.17 percent. The NSE Nifty 50 began trading at 24,117.55, declining 58.10 points, or 0.24 percent.
The domestic stock market had gained on Friday. Despite the positive performance in the previous trading session, investors remained cautious at the start of Monday's session.
Global cues, geopolitical developments, crude oil prices and the direction of overseas markets were also among the factors that could influence the market's initial weakness.
Only four of the 30 Sensex constituents opened higher on Monday, while the remaining 26 stocks began trading lower.
Eternal was among the top-performing Sensex stocks, opening around 0.99 percent higher. HDFC Bank gained 0.56 percent, ICICI Bank rose 0.14 percent and Bharti Airtel opened 0.03 percent higher.
IndiGo recorded the steepest decline among the Sensex stocks in early trading. The airline company's shares opened around 2.07 percent lower. Infosys declined 1.63 percent, while Tata Steel fell around 1.40 percent.
Bajaj Finance opened 1.36 percent lower and NTPC declined 1.33 percent. The initial market movement indicated that investors were avoiding risk and booking profits in select stocks.
The Nifty 50 also started the session lower. Of the 50 companies in the index, only eight stocks opened higher, while 42 began trading with declines.
The broader market therefore witnessed selling pressure in the initial phase. However, the direction of individual stocks could change during the trading session, while the final market movement would depend on global cues, institutional investment and sector-based activity.
Several other major companies opened in the red on Monday. Bajaj Finserv declined 1.05 percent, Power Grid fell 1.05 percent, HCL Technologies declined 0.90 percent and Hindustan Unilever fell 0.90 percent.
Titan opened 0.87 percent lower, BEL declined 0.85 percent, TCS fell 0.85 percent, Axis Bank declined 0.84 percent and Larsen & Toubro fell 0.84 percent.
Reliance Industries declined 0.84 percent, Trent fell 0.83 percent and State Bank of India (SBI) declined 0.81 percent.
UltraTech Cement opened 0.54 percent lower, Adani Ports declined 0.50 percent, Tech Mahindra fell 0.44 percent, Maruti Suzuki declined 0.36 percent and Kotak Mahindra Bank fell 0.35 percent.
Mahindra & Mahindra declined 0.32 percent and ITC fell 0.30 percent, while Sun Pharma opened marginally lower by 0.01 percent.
