New Delhi, 17 August (H.S.): Indian equity markets opened lower on Monday, the first trading day of the week, amid continuing geopolitical tensions in West Asia and rising crude oil prices. Both benchmark indices traded in the red during early trade, with the Sensex falling 432 points and the Nifty declining by more than 106 points.

The BSE Sensex was trading at 77,576.78, down 432.47 points, or 0.55 per cent. Similarly, the NSE Nifty declined 106.70 points, or 0.44 per cent, to trade at 24,259.30.

Among the 30 Sensex constituents, shares of Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever and State Bank of India were among the biggest losers. On the other hand, shares of Bharat Electronics and Titan registered gains.

Meanwhile, major Asian markets were trading higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225, China’s SSE Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were all in positive territory.

The Indian rupee also weakened by 10 paise in early trade, trading at 95.52 against the US dollar.

It may be recalled that the Sensex had closed 70.71 points lower at the end of Friday’s trading session last week, while the Nifty had declined 29.85 points.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar