The Indian indices opened lower on Monday, tracking Asian peers as a global surge of new coronavirus cases showed no sign of abating. Sensex dropped 230 points to 37,375.34 in opening session, while Nifty declines 63.20 points to 11,010.25.
The BSE Sensex was trading 303.74 points or 0.81 per cent lower at 37,303.15; while the NSE Nifty was down 77.15 points or 0.70 per cent at 10,996.30.
Kotak Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, falling around 3 per cent, followed by IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, ONGC, PowerGrid, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma and Reliance Industries (RIL).
On the other hand, Bajaj Auto, Titan, Maruti, M&M and SBI were among the gainers. In the previous session, the 30-share Sensex ended 129.18 points or 0.34 per cent lower at 37,606.89, while the NSE Nifty fell 28.70 points or 0.26 per cent to 11,073.45.
Exchange data showed that foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 958.64 crore on a net basis on Friday. According to traders, selling in index majors RIL and HDFC duo dragged key indices lower.
Further, foreign fund outflow, concerns over rise in COVID-19 cases across the world kept investors cautious, they added. The number of cases around the world linked to COVID-19 has crossed 1.8 crore, while the infection count in India crossed 18 lakh.
Bourses in Hong Kong and Seoul were in the red, while Shanghai and Tokyo were trading on the positive territory. Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.55 per cent lower at USD 43.28 per barrel.
