Indian Equity Benchmarks Plunge on Crude Oil Fears and IT Selling

The Indian equity benchmarks opened lower on Tuesday due to elevated crude oil prices and selling in IT and auto shares. The Nifty 50 fell by 36.05 points or 0.15 per cent to 23,743.10, while the Sensex dropped over 150 points or 0.21 per cent to 75,970.28.

The sectoral indices showed Nifty IT and Nifty Auto as top losers, plummeting up to around 1 per cent in early trade. The Nifty Oil & Gas index fell by 0.48 per cent, followed by the Nifty Private Bank which declined by 0.39 per cent.

Market experts pointed out that the market is experiencing its fifth week of a slow but steady downtrend due to factors such as elevated crude prices, selling in IT stocks, Fed rate hike fears, and liquidity being absorbed by a booming IPO market.