Opening Bell: Nifty below 17,000, Sensex drops more than 700 points; IT, Realty, FMCG stocks top laggards

Extending losses for the second day, Indian market opened in the red tracking its Asian peers and in line with the trends on SGX Nifty on Monday. Benchmarks Nifty 50 and the Sensex opened nearly 1 % lower as weak global cues weighed on the Indian market. The Nifty50 slipped started near 17000 and the Sensex dropped nearly 400 points to open at 17,009.05 and 56,757.64 respectively. The market fell further as the Sensex tanked more than 700 points and the Nifty slipped below 17000-mark soon after opening.  

Globally markets turned weak with the big cut in the mother market US last Friday, said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. "Markets are worried about the increasing hawkish messages from the Fed which indicate higher-than-expected rate hikes by the Fed this year. There are concerns that aggressive monetary tightening might even push the US economy into a recession in 2023. These fears are impacting risky assets," he said. 

He was of the view India cannot be immune to a probable global market correction. But India is relatively resilient, he said. "Monetary tightening in India would be mild compared to that of the US. There are indications of good recovery in the economy. ICICI Bank's excellent results also reflect the improving asset quality and growing credit demand in the banking sector. Top quality banking stocks are at buyable valuations. Sharp market corrections caused by global factors can be used to buy quality names in a calibrated manner," he said.

In the broader market, Nifty midcap and small cap were too trading lower by more than 1% on Monday 

See Zee Business Live TV Streaming Below:

Among sectors, all Nifty indices turned red with Nifty FMCG, IT and Realty aking the maximum beatings 

In the pre-open, the Sensex tanked more than 400 points as ICICI Bank and HCL Tech were the only two gainers as 28 stocks declined on the 30-share index.  

Nifty closed lower at 17,172 on Friday as selling pressure prevailed at higher levels, while VIX ended at ~18-level. Despite breaking above the 17,250-17,200-resistance zone, the Index was susceptible to selling pressure at 17,500-level, said Viraj Vyas, Technical and Derivatives analyst at Ashika Broking.  

"A faster retracement of the fall is still crucial for the recovery rally to gain strength with support seen at 17,000-level. On the upside, however, fresh buying momentum will be visible once the Index starts sustaining above 17,500-level. On the weekly chart, the Index has formed a big ‘Doji’ bar, which signals continued indecision of the market participants," he added.  

Earlier, Asian markets were trading negative on Monday as Japanese Nikkei 225 was down 1.9%, Hang Seng Index nearly 3% and Chinese Shanghai Composite was trading lower by more than 2.5% in the early trade.