Sensex, Nifty start 2024 on a lower note; Cholamandalam Financial, Usha Martin slip up to 3%

Indian equity benchmarks began calendar year 2024 on a tepid note. The domestic benchmarks slipped into the red in early trade on Monday, dragged by technology, banks and financials. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack fell 183 points or 0.25 per cent to trade at 72,058, while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 43 points or 0.20 per cent down to trade at 21,688.

Mid- and small-cap shares were, however, up as Nifty Midcap 100 climbed 0.21 per cent and small-cap moved 0.31 per cent higher. India VIX, fear index, rose 1.46 per cent to 14.72-level.

On BSE, Cholamandalam Financial, Usha Martin, Sonata Software and Vodafone Idea slipped up to 3 per cent.

Indian stock exchanges, including BSE and NSE, are open for trading today. This is against a market holiday across the US, the UK, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Germany, France, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Spain and a dozen other share markets globally.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought Indian shares on a net basis during the previous session, purchasing Rs 1,459.12 crore and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) picked up shares worth Rs 554.39 crore.

Seven out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the red today. Sub-indexes Nifty IT, Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 0.42 per cent, 0.31 per cent and 0.34 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Eicher Motors was the top loser in the Nifty pack as the stock cracked 0.81 per cent to trade at Rs 4,109.8. Bharti Airtel, M&M, Axis Bank and Tata Consumer Products fell up to 0.73 per cent.

In contrast, Coal India, Tata Motors, BPCL, Dr Reddy's and Grasim Industries were among the top gainers.

The overall market breadth was slightly strong as 1,990 shares were advancing while 1,794 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, frontline stocks such as HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, TCS, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Airtel and M&M were among the top laggards.

Also, shares of Cholamandalam Financial, Usha Martin, Sonata Software, KEI and Kalpataru Projects International slipped up to 3 per cent.

On the flipside, JBM Auto, KIOCL, Vodafone Idea, BHEL, Jyothy Labs, GNFC, GSFC, RCF, SW Solar, Avanti Feeds and ACI surged up to 11.78 per cent.

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