Sensex, Nifty likely to open lower amid weak global cues

Indian benchmark indices are likely to open lower today as SGX Nifty quoted at 17,309 (down 152 points) at 8:39 am.

Singapore Nifty (SGX Nifty) is the Indian Nifty index that is traded in Singapore Stock Exchange and considered to be the first indication of the Indian markets opening.

Benchmark indices tumbled on Monday, weighed by losses in index majors Reliance Industries, HDFC and Bajaj Finance amid a mixed trend in global markets.

Sensex slumped 503.25 points to end at 58,283 and Nifty fell 143.05 points to 17,368.25.

Bajaj Finance was the top  Sensex loser, falling 3.10 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finserv, Reliance Industries, M&M, Nestle India and SBI. Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid and Maruti were among the top  Sensex gainers, rising up to 2.38%.

V K Vijayakumar, Chief investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said, "The sharp rise in Omicron cases in the UK is a concern for global markets. Meetings of the US Fed, ECB, Bank of England and Bank of Japan this week will give cues on the medium term trajectory of interest rates, bond yields and markets."

In India, the relentless selling by FPIs (Rs 33,799 crore in November and Rs 17,644 crore up to December 10) has been the major headwind for the market, particularly for banking stocks, he added.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 2,743.44 crore on December 13, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,351.03 crore, as per provisional data available on NSE.