Opening Bell: Nifty slips below 15,800, Sensex drops nearly 400 points; auto, banking stocks drag

The Indian markets opened in the red for the fifth consecutive session as benchmarks declined in the opening trade, tracking developments related to Russia Ukraine war and ever surging oil prices since the war started.  

The weak opening was in line with the SGX Nifty as the Futures index was trading 115 points lower or a decline by 0.73% to 15,727.50at 9 am on Tuesday.  

The broader Nifty slipped below 15,800 and the Sensex declined by nearly 400 points. Domestic equity benchmarks Nifty50 and the Sensex opened at 15,747.75 and 52,430.06 dragged by auto and banking stocks on Tuesday.  

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ONGC, POwergrid, NTPC, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra were among top gainers, while Hindalco, SBI Life, HDFC Bank, Hero MotoCorp and Baja Auto were among top drags on Tuesday.

In the pre-open, the Sensex started more than 400 points lower to 52,430 as 10 shares advanced and 20 declined on the 30-sharesa advanced.  

 "The heightened volatility in the market continues. Nasdaq is now 20 % down from the peak indicating that it has entered bear market territory. Nifty is down 15% from the peak. All commodities have surged indicating imminent higher inflation. Even though the market is now oversold, sentiments are negative," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
The positive development from the market perspective is the exit poll projection of BJP doing well in UP, he said.

"Declining bond yields in the US and the possibility of lower-than-feared rate hikes by the Fed are reliefs from the market perspective. IT, energy, metals and pharma continue to be the safe bets in the present context. But for long-term investors, better returns are likely to come from fundamentally strong beaten down segments like high quality financials," he added.

Meanwhile, Credit Suisse tactically downgrade India to Underweight from Overweight.  Downgrade is largely based on Oil Still like India’s +ve EPS revisions & positioning in credit & property cycles, but India is most vulnerable to higher oil prices, along with Philippines. 

Credit Suisse Tactically Downgrade India to UW from OW Rich valuations magnify the short-term risks Use funds freed from India to raise China from Market Weight to Overweight 

Earlier, on Tuesday morning, Asian indices were trading mixed as Japanese Nikkei 225 was down 0.27%, Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchange was up 0.50% and Chinese Shanghai Composite was trading lower by 0.70% around 8 am on Tuesday.  

on Monday, the US market has ended deep in the red on Monday as benchmarks Dow Jones close with 2.37% loss, Nasdaq Composite declined 3.62%, S&P 500 dropped 2.95% and Russell 2000 ended with a cut of 2.48%. 

Earlier, oil prices had already hit 14-year highs as Russia warned that prices could surge to $300 a barrel and it might close the main gas pipeline to Germany if the West halts oil imports over the invasion of Ukraine, said a Reuters report.  

International oil benchmark Brent crude, which briefly hit more than $139 a barrel in the previous session, jumped around in Tuesday's morning trade and was up about 0.8% at $124.20. 

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