Opening Bell: Nifty near 15,500, Sensex drops around 350 points; Metal, energy stocks worst hit

After two positive closings, the Indian market opened on a weak note amid neutral global cues on Monday. Benchmarks started the day with nearly half per cent cuts. The broader Nifty50 slipped below 16,000 and the Sensex declined around 350 points to start near 52,200. The two indices opened at 15,545.65 and 52,186.36 respectively. 

In the broader market, Nifty midcap and smallcap declined by more than one per cent each.  

On the sectoral front, Metal and Energy stocks witnessed huge sell-off as all other sectors too slipped in the red.  

In the pre-open, the Sensex declined nearly 400 points as seven stocks advanced and 23 declined on the 30-share index.  

"Pull back rallies can be sharp and it was sharp yesterday. The important question is: will this continue? There is no economic news, except the softness in crude, to sustain the rally," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said in his pre-open market commentary.  

There is no reason for FIIs to change their selling strategy since the dollar continues to be strong and US bond yields are attractive and expected to rise further, the expert underlined.  

"The large-caps which bounced back sharply yesterday are fundamentally strong stocks. Therefore, the best investment strategy now should be to buy these high-quality names in small quantities, on dips," the expert added.  

Earlier, the cues from Asian markets remained largely negative on Wednesday morning. The majority of the Asian indices, including SGX Nifty, were trading in the red in early trend on Wednesday.  

SGX Nifty Futures, which indicates opening trends for the Indian market, was trading 35 points lower on the Singaporean exchange in the opening trade on Wednesday.  

Japanese Nikkei 225 was trading flat, while Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong exchange dropped 0.5% and Chinese Shanghai Composite slipped 0.2% in the morning trade.  

However, the US market closed on a strong note on Tuesday. Dow Jones gained 2.15%, Nasdaq ended higher by 2.5% and S&P 500 ended higher by 2.4% on Tuesday.