Sensex declines by over 200 points in opening trade amid weak global trends

Equity benchmark Sensex declined by more than 200 points in opening trade on January 19 due to losses in IT and banking shares amid weak global trends.

The 30-share barometer dropped by 208.38 points or 0.34% to 60,546.48 in opening trade.

The broader NSE Nifty declined by 84.95 points or 0.47% to 18,028.10 as 38 of its constituents were trading in the red.

Among major Sensex losers, Infosys dropped by 1.7%, Wipro by 1.41%, Tech Mahindra by 1.07%, TCS by 0.77% and HCL Tech by 1.09%, in line with a global fall in technology stocks.

Among banking stocks, IndusInd Bank declined by 1.33%, while HDFC twins fell up to 0.8%.

On the other hand, auto stocks Maruti Suzuki and M&M rose by more than 1%. Bajaj Finance rose by 3.34% and Bajaj Finserve by more than 1%.

Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Power Grid and Titan also advanced, limiting the losses in the key index.

Foreign investors remained net sellers in the Indian equity markets as they offloaded stocks worth ₹1,254.95 crore on January 18, according to stock exchange data.

Asian markets were trading lower after a broad sell-off on Wall Street on January 18 as bond yields surged amid renewed fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve will act more aggressively than expected to tackle rising inflation.

The S&P 500 dropped by 1.8%, Dow Jones fell 1.5% and the Nasdaq plunged by 2.6%, due to deep losses in technology stocks.

Experts said increased expectations of a rate hike by the U.S. Fed have kept Treasury yields rising. The 10-year Treasury hit 1.87% on January 18, the highest since January 2020.