Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 17 (ANI): The Indian equity markets opened weak on Monday, with the Sensex falling over 300 points and the Nifty slipping below 24,300, extending Friday's decline as investors remained cautious amid geopolitical tensions and elevated crude oil prices.

Sensex opened marginally higher at 77,892.92 against the previous close of 78,009.25; however, it hit a low of 77,655.64 in the early morning trade. Nifty, on the other hand, opened at 24,343.45, slightly lower against previous close of 24,366. All the broad market indices were trading in the red; sectorally, auto, pharma, healthcare, and chemical sectors traded positively.

Nifty IT and PSU emerged as top sectoral losers, dropping over a per cent during early morning trade. Sensex was trading at around 77,675.05, down 334.20 points or 0.43 per cent, while Nifty was trading at around 24,294.60, down 68.20 points or 0.29 per cent at the time of reporting

On NSE, Max Health, Titan, HDFC Life, ONGC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, Asian Paints, among others, were the top gainers. Wipro, SBI, JSW Steel, ITC, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, NTPC, among others, were the top drags.

Likewise, on BSE, Eternal, Titan, BEL, Axis Bank were the top gainers during the early morning trade while TCS, HCL Tech, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, LT, SBI, Maruti, Power Grid among others were the top laggards.

In the commodity market, Brent crude was trading at around USD 88.88 per barrel while crude oil was trading at around USD 82.45 at the time of reporting. At the same time, gold was trading at around USD 4,393.92.

As per Market analyst Vipin Dixena, 'The market is starting the week on a cautious note, with geopolitical tensions and elevated crude oil prices continuing to weigh on investor sentiment. At the same time, I see some positives in the form of fresh FII buying on Friday and continued resilience in corporate earnings. I believe investors are likely to remain selective rather than take aggressive positions.'

'From a technical perspective, Nifty is currently testing an important support zone around 24,300-24,200. The broader structure remains vulnerable as long as the index struggles below 24,500, which is the immediate resistance. A sustained move above 24,500 could bring back buying momentum, while a break below 24,200 could open the door towards 24,050-24,000,' he noted.

As per Devarsh Vakil, HSL Prime Research, Nifty faces resistance at 24,600-24,770 and support at 24,200, with investors awaiting clearer cues from global markets.

Giving a broader outlook on the equity markets, Ashwini Shami, President and Chief Portfolio Manager, OmniScience Capital, noted, 'The geopolitical tensions in the Middle East remain elevated this week, impacting crude oil and global commodity prices. Inflation numbers cooled slightly in both India and the US.'

As per Shami, while overall inflation remained at elevated levels, the relatively flat readings supported the case for stable policy rates in the near term.

'Lower-than-expected payroll numbers also reduced expectations of a rate hike by the Fed, which supported capital flows into emerging markets. FII activity over the past 2-3 weeks has remained supportive of the Indian market across capitalisations. We believe these fund flows could help resolve mispricing across sectors such as financials, infrastructure, business services, power and select capital goods, where earnings visibility and structural growth drivers remain encouraging,' he said. (ANI)