Sensex, Nifty cautious in early trade tracking Asian markets

Domestic equity gauges Sensex and Nifty were marginally down in opening deals on February 18, as participants remained cautious tracking other Asian markets amid renewed fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The BSE Sensex was trading 70.40 points or 0.12% lower at 57,821.61 and the NSE Nifty was down 15.95 points or 0.09% at 17,288.65.

The Sensex was dragged lower by mainly IT shares with Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and HCL Tech dropping as much as 1.23%.

On the index, 22 shares were trading in the negative zone.

Analysts said that Indian markets opened flat in line with range-bound muted Asian markets and sharply lower U.S. markets on February 17.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said, “U.S. stocks ended sharply lower on February 17, as investors dealt with renewed fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine as the U.S. and its allies accused Moscow of continuing to build up troop levels.”

Investors hastened a move late in the session towards defensive sectors and safe havens such as U.S. bonds and gold, as geopolitical tensions between Washington and Russia over Ukraine flared, he added.

Other Asian markets witnessed selloffs as investors weighed renewed U.S. warnings of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine.

Crude oil benchmark Brent Futures dropped 0.71% to trade at $92.31 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth ₹1,242.10 crores in the Indian capital markets on February 17, exchange data showed.