Opening Bell: Nifty, Sensex open flat with positive bias; oil & gas, auto shares gain

The Indian markets extended losses on Monday after closing flat with negative bias on Friday. Benchmarks Nifty50 and the S&P BSE Sensex opened flat with positive bias at 18,235.65 and 61,219.64  respectively as the indices held on to crucial 18, 200 and 61, 200 in the open on Monday.  

The Bank Nifty opened nearly 150 points lower to 38,212.55 as the 12-share index recovered to trade with minor 50 points loss minutes after opening.  

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IOC, Hero Moto Corp, ONGC, Tata Motors, BPCL, Maruti, State Bank of India, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahinda. Powergrid and Reliance Industries Limited were the top gainers on the two indices. HCL Tech, Titan, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Ultratech cement, Tech Mahindra, Asian paints and Dr Reddy's were the stocks that dragged the headline indices the most. 

In the pre-open, the Sensex started flat with marginal loss of 3 points to 61,219.64 as even 21 shares advanced and 9 declined on the 30-share Sensex.  

Earlier, SGX Nifty Futures hinted at negative opening for the domestic equity market as the index trade 58.50 points or 0.32% lower to 18,215.50 around 9 am on the Singaporean Exchange on Monday.  

In the Asian market on Monday, the indices were trading mixed. Japanese Nikkei 225 was up 0.59%, Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchange traded lower by 0.54% and Shanghai Composite was trading higher by 0.31% around 8 am on Monday.  

The Wall Street indices too closed mixed, largely in the green on Friday. The S&P 500 closed 0.56% lower, while Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500 and Russell 2000 settled 0.59%, 0.08%, 0.14% higher on Friday respectively. The US markets will remain closed for trading on Monday.