Nifty slips below 15,800, Sensex down 1500 points amid calls for harsher sanctions on Russia; metal in green

After opening with more than 2 per cent discount the benchmarks extended the losses further as Nifty50 slipped below 15,900 while the Sensex traded lower by more than 1600 points, minutes after opening weak. 

The Indian markets had tanked in the opening trade amid the reports of the US and European Union Planning ban on oil imports from Russia and gas price topping $4 per gallon average, 1st time since 2008. The opening was in line with the trends hinted by SGX Nifty as the Futures index fell more than 400 points to 15,806 on the Singaporean exchange around 9 am on Monday.  

The broader Nifty slipped below 15,900 while the barometer Sensex fell by 1300 points as Nifty50 and the Sensex started the day at 15,867.95 and 53,172.51. 

See Zee Business Live TV Streaming Below:

Except Metal, all sectoral indices turned red as auto declined 4% in the opening trade. 

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, on Monday said, extraordinary uncertainty triggered by the war has pushed commodity markets into turmoil. "Crude at $ 128 is a big shock. This can impact global growth and aggravate inflationary pressures. In India, growth will be lower and inflation higher than projected for FY 23. Market is slipping into bearish territory. Investors have to be cautious," he said.

The analyst said there is relative safety in energy due to high energy prices, metals due to high global prices and export segments due to resilient demand and rupee depreciation.

"Calibrated buying in very small quantities may be considered in the above mentioned segments," he added.

Earlier, in the pre-open on Monday, the Sensex tanked by more than 1000 points as except Tata Steel and Nestle India all other stocks were sitting in the red.  

Asian indices too traded lower as Japanese Nikkei 225 and Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchanges tanked nearly 3.5%, while Shanghai Composite traded more than 1% lower around 8 am on Monday. 

In the US market, Dow Jones declined 0.53%, Nasdaq Composite dropped more than 1.5% and S&P500 fell 0.79% in Friday's closing.  

Earlier, the price of regular gasoline broke $4 per gallon (3.8 liters) on average across the U.S. On Sunday for the first time since 2008, reported Reuters. During the first full week of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the price of regular gas rose by almost 41 cents, according to the AAA motor club. 

The price of oil jumped more than $10 a barrel and shares were sharply lower Monday as the conflict in Ukraine deepened amid mounting calls for harsher sanctions against Russia, said news agency PTI.  

Brent crude oil briefly surged over $10 to nearly $130 a barrel early Monday. Benchmark US crude was nearly $9 at more than $124 a barrel.