Opening Bell: Nifty slips below 17,200, Sensex drops over 250 points; realty, consumer durables, media top drags

The Indian stock markets opened negative amid muted global cues on Monday.  The broader Nifty slipped below 17,200 and the Sensex dropped over 250 points in the open.  

Benchmark Nifty50 and the barometer Sensex opened at 17,192.25  and 57,551.65 amid Russia-Ukraine tension and fears of increasing energy cost and inflation if the two countries engage in war. All broader market and sectoral indices too slipped in the red as realty, consumer durables and media were seen struggling the most. 

"The 17070 - 17340 range shall continue to be a region of significance early this week. While Friday’s weak close shall force a lower opening, there is not much in the oscillators to signal a momentous downside or break 17130/17070 right away. While this sets up for a potential upswing, we may be forced to escalate the risk of a directional downside, should 17100 region give away, or 17300 remain unconquered," said  Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. 

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Meanwhile, Dr Reddy's, NTPC, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, TCS, ONGC and Coal India were lead gainers, while HDFC Life, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Britannia, Maruti, Ultratech Cemnt, HDFC Bank, L&T, Hindustan Unilever and Reliance Industries were top drags on Monday. 

"There are strong headwinds for the market arising from Ukraine tensions and monetary tightening by the Fed expected from March onwards. Adding to these headwinds, there are concerns specific to India like sustained FII selling and rising crude. Brent crude at around $ 94 a barrel can aggravate inflation in India and depreciating rupee may further prompt FIIs to sell. Retail investor optimism and cash rich DIIs are positive," says V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.  

He says trends of improving earnings growth and fair valuations in segments like financials are supporting the market. "Investors may wait till clarity emerges on the Ukraine front. March is likely to be an event filled month with state election results, Fed meet and LIC IPO," he added.

Earlier, in the pre-open, the Sensex opened nearly 300 points lower to 57,551.65 amid negative indication from SGX Nifty as the 30-sahre index saw 25 shares advancing and 25 declining minutes before opening. 

The SGX Nifty hinted at a negative opening for the Indian markets as futures index on the Singaporean Exchange was trading lower by 80 points or 0.47% to 17,199.50 at 9 am on Monday.  

On Monday morning, Asian share too slipped amid warnings that Russia was set to invade Ukraine. Russia upped the ante in the high-stakes diplomatic game by extending military drills in Belarus, while satellite imagery from Maxar showed multiple new field deployments of armour and troops near the border with Ukraine, reported Reuters.  

Major Asian indices such as Japanese Nikkei 225 was trading lower by more than 0.59%, Hang Seng Index that Hong Kong Exchange was down by 0.51% and Shanghai Composite was trading 0.42% lower in the early morning trade amid uncertainty surrounding Russia-Ukraine on Monday.  

On Friday, in the US market, Dow Jones slipped 0.6(5, Nasdaq Composite declined 1.23%, S&P500 closed 0.72% ad Russell 2000 slumped 0.93% in Friday's closing.