Opening Bell: Benchmark indices start the week trading marginally lower; IT stocks are among the top losers

The benchmark indices commenced the new week by opening marginally lower.

In the pre-opening session, Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange, traded 95 points, or 0.57% down at 16,494 level indicating a lower start. On the global front, Wall Street's three major stock indexes namely Down Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite ended lower on Friday after a solid jobs report lowered the hopes halt in the Federal Reserve's aggressive policy-tightening, which is necessary to control decades-high inflation. On Monday, Asian shares made a dampened start due to cautiousness ahead of critical reading on US inflation.

At the open, Sensex slipped 146.45 points or 0.26% at 55622.78, and Nifty lost 28 points or 0.17% at 16556.30. The top gainers in Sensex at the open are Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank and L&T whereas the top losers are Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Infosys, HUL and TCS. Among the companies who will declare Q4FY22 results on Monday include Urja Global, Setco Automotive, AVG Logistics, Cinevista, Marshall Machines, Chadha Papers, APT Packaging, Dhanvantri Jeevan Rekha, Ind-Agiv Commerce, Alpha Hi-Tech Fuel and Arihant Institute.

In the broader markets, at 9.40 am BSE Mid Cap and Small Cap indices were seen underperforming trading 1.31% and 1.33% lower, respectively. The top three midcap stocks were Oil India, IDBI Bank and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals whereas the top three small cap stocks were Kamdhenu, Glenmark Life Sciences and Savita Oil Technologies.

On the sectoral front, indices traded lower with the realty, technology, telecom, consumer durables, FMCG and energy indices declining more than a per cent each. BSE IT index has slipped the most trading 1.70 % down. The top stocks dragging the IT index were Brightcom Group, NIIT, Xelpmoc, Coforge and Happiest Minds, falling up to 5%.