Opening Bell: Nifty below 17,200, Sensex tanks over 1000 points; except metal, all sectors in red

After a long-weekend due to holidays, the domestic equity market opened in the red amid weak global cues, including rising oil prices and deepening Russia-Ukraine crisis.  

The broader Nifty50 slipped below 17,200, while the Sensex tanked over 1000 points in the opening trade on Monday.  

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The two indices opened at 17,183.45 and 57,338.58 respectively. 

Among sectors, except metal, which rose 0.8%, all other Nifty indices turned negative.  

"In the near-term, headwinds are getting stronger for the market. Globally, sentiments are negative with Dollar index above 100, 10-year yield above 2.8 percent and global economy expected to weaken if the Ukraine war prolongs. Back home in India, Infosys results came worse-than-expected with rising attrition and  weakening margins even though growth prospects appear bright. IT valuations may come under pressure dragging the index down," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.  

He said a clear trend in the market is preference for value over growth. "This trend and the outperformance of the mid-caps are likely to continue. Investors will get buying opportunities in these segments on declines," he added. 

In the pre-open, the Sensex tanked as much as 1000 points to trade around 57,300 as four shares advanced and 26 declined on the 30-share index.  

"Nifty closed lower at 17,476 on Wednesday, while VIX ended at ~18-level. The Index continues to trade below the narrow trading band (17,800-17,600) taking support from the 21-day EMA (17,400), which is now a critical support on the downside. Continuing to spend more time below 17,800-level doesn’t augur well and it is imperative for the Index to demonstrate price intensity with meaningful OI addition to witness a directional break-out," said Viraj Vyas, Technical and Derivatives analyst at Ashika Broking. 

On weekly chart, the Index has formed a big red bar, which sums ups the bearish mood for the past week with critical support seen at 17,200-level, while resistance is seen at 18,100-level, he added.

Earlier, SGX Nifty had too hinted at a negative opening for the Indian market as the futures index on the Singaporean exchange dropped more than 60 points around 9 am on Monday.  

In the Asian markets, Japanese Nikkei 225 was trading lower by more than 1.75% and Chinese Shanghai Composite declined over 1% in the early trade on Monday.  

Earlier on Friday, the US markets ended deep in the red on Friday as all major indices closed lower. Benchmarks Dow Jones declined 0.3%, Nasdaq Composite closed 2.14% and S&P 500 dropped 1.21%.