Opening Bell: Nifty below 16,300, Sensex drops nearly 600 points; Metal, IT top losers

Tracking SGX Nifty and other Asian markets, the Indian market opened on a negative note on Monday. Benchmark indices declined more than one per cent each. The broader Nifty 50 slipped below 16,300, while the Sensex tanked by nearly 600 points as the two indices opened at 16,283.95 and 54,760.25 respectively.  

In the broader market, following benchmarks, Nifty midcap and small cap declined by nearly one per cent each on Friday. 

On the sectoral front, All Nifty indices ended in the red with Metal and IT declining the most. 

"Strengthening of the US 10-year bond yield to 3.05 % can be interpreted as the market discounting worse- than- expected inflation data in the US on Friday. If inflation data turns out to be worse-than-expected, equity markets will turn bearish. If it doesn't, markets will stage a rebound next week," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, INR depreciation  is becoming a tailwind for the IT industry, he said. "Since banks have hiked lending rates immediately after the repo rate hike, they are likely to post good results in the coming quarters," expert added.

In the pre-open, the Sensex declined by more than 500 points as, except Dr Reddy's, all other stocks sat in deep red around 9.06 am on Friday.  

Earlier, the cues from Asian and US markets were negative on Monday.  

SGX Nifty Futures, which indicate Indian market opening trend, declined in the morning and was trading lower by more than 230 points.  

Besides, Japanese Nikkei 225, Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchange and Chinese Shanghai Composite were also sitting in the red in early trade. Nikkei 225 dropped nearly 1.5 per cent, Hang Seng Index declined more than one per cent Shanghai Composite traded lower by 0.1%.  

Earlier, the US market too slipped in the red ahead of the FOMC meeting.  US equity benchmarks Dow Jones closed with a cut of 638 points, Nasdaq ended lower by 332 points and S&P 500 ended lower by 500 points on Thursday.