New Delhi [India], May 15 (ANI): Indian equity markets opened in the red on Friday as a nationwide hike in fuel prices and firming global crude oil rates weighed on investor sentiment, even as global markets remained focused on the ongoing summit between the U.S. and China.

The BSE SENSEX fell 64.22 points or 0.09 per cent to 75,334.50 in early trade, while the NSE NIFTY 50 remained nearly flat with a negative bias, shedding 1.55 points to stand at 23,688.05.

'The bias is cautiously bullish, but bulls first need to clear 23,790 supply, with 24,000 the larger hurdle. 23,500 is the immediate support to defend; a breach would expose 23,300,' said Rajesh Palviya, Head of Research at Axis Direct.

This marginal decline follows a significant policy shift as the Centre hiked the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 3 per litre each across the country. In the national capital, petrol prices rose from Rs 94.77 to Rs 97.77 per litre, while diesel prices increased from Rs 87.67 to Rs 90.67 per litre.

Similar escalations are visible in other metros, with petrol reaching Rs 108.74 (+3.29) in Kolkata, Rs 103.67 (+2.83) in Chennai and Rs 106.68 (+3.14) in Mumbai. Diesel prices in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai now stand at Rs 93.14 (+3.11), Rs 95.13 (+3.11) and Rs 95.25 (+2.86) per litre, respectively.

On the sectoral front, performance remained mixed as the Nifty IT index led the gainers with a 1.27 per cent rise, followed by Nifty Auto at 0.93 per cent and Nifty Pharma at 0.30 per cent.

Conversely, selling pressure was evident in the Nifty PSU Bank index, which declined by 0.55 per cent. The Nifty Metal and Nifty Financial Services sectors also traded lower by 0.46 per cent and 0.25 per cent, respectively.

Commodity markets reflected ongoing volatility as Brent Crude gained 1.10 per cent to reach USD 106.89 per barrel. WTI Crude Oil similarly rose 1.22 per cent to USD 102.41 per barrel. Meanwhile, Gold prices on the CFD markets witnessed a decline of 0.79 per cent, trading at USD 4,614.28.

Global cues remained mixed overnight. U.S. stock futures were little changed on Thursday night after the Dow Jones Industrial Average reclaimed the 50,000 threshold, and the S&P 500 closed above 7,500 for the first time. Investors are also keeping an eye on the ongoing summit between the U.S. and China.

At the time of filing this report, Dow futures fell by 10 points, or 0.02 per cent. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.02 per cent, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.06 per cent.

'Overnight, US benchmarks struck fresh records -- the S&P 500 rose 0.77%, the Dow reclaimed 50,000 (+0.74%), and the Nasdaq added 0.88% -- powered by Cisco's 13% jump and Nvidia's H200 chip clearance. Asian cues this morning are negative; Japan and Korea are trading in the red. GIFT Nifty at 23,734.0 is trading marginally high,' Palviya added. (ANI)