NEW DELHI: Indian markets started the expiry week on a bearish note as crude jitters emerged to be the biggest mood dampener on Dalal Street in Monday's morning trade.
Oil prices rallied nearly 3 per cent on Monday to levels not seen since November 2018 as a Reuters source familiar with the matter confirmed a report that Washington is set to announce all imports of Iranian oil must end or be subject to sanctions.
Brent crude futures rose to a November 2018 of $73.77 per barrel.Surging oil prices hurt the domestic rupee too which slipped by as much as 52 paise to 69.87 against the US dollar.
Furthermore, caution prevailed as Volatility Index -- a strong indicator of traders perception of market risks -- rose to its highest in 15 months as the national elections results and record high market levels make participants nervous.
India VIX was up 7 per cent around 9.30 am.BSE barometer Sensex was trading down 209 points, or 0.53 per cent at 38,932.
While NSE Nifty shed 67 points, or 0.57 per cent to trade at 11,686.
"Going forward, we expect the index to sustain above past weeks low (11,648) and eventually head towards 12,100 in coming weeks.
Meanwhile, stock specific activity would take centre stage as Q4FY19 earnings season accelerates and general elections take place," said ICICIDirect.On the NSE Nifty 14 stocks advanced, 34 declined while 2 remained unchanged.In the Sensex pack of stocks, eight traded mildly higher while 22 were in the pool of red.
TCS was the biggest gainer and rose 0.91 per cent after the company said it has deployed an integrated solution for India Post that has helped modernise a network of more than 1.5 lakh post offices in the country.
Other players on the leaderboard were PowerGrid, Infosys, HCL Tech, HDFC Bank and ONGC.On the other hand, IndusInd bank topped the loserboard, shedding 2.23 per cent.
Other losers were, Reliance Industries, YES Bank, Asian Paints and Axis Bank.TCS and Infosys were the biggest index contributors, however, heavyweights such as RIL, HDFC and top bank stocks pulled down the market mood.BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap too followed Sensex in the negative territory, losing 0.85 per cent and 0.70 per cent respectively.
On the BSE sectoral front all the sectors suffered losses.
Biggest loser was BSE Oil Gas shedding 2.02 per cent on the back of soaring oil prices.
The drag was lead by stocks such as BPCL, IOC and RIL.Meanwhile, business sentiments continue to decline for the country's financial and macro-economic conditions in the second quarter of the year compared to the same period a year before, as per a Dun Bradstreet (DB) report.