Sensex off lows, down 100 pts, Nifty holds 24,500; RIL slips 2%, Wipro down 7%

Indian benchmark indices retreated at open on Monday, with BSE Sensex slipping 463 points at 80,141 points, while the Nifty50 index fell by 147 odd points or 0.6 per cent to 24,383.

On BSE Sensex Kotak led the losses, followed by Reliance Industries, JSW Steel, HCL Tech, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank and Tech Mahindra while Nestle India, Infosys, HUL, ITC, and TCS were among top gainers.

In line with the benchmarks, the broader markets also showed weakness, with the MidCap index dropping by 0.77 per cent and the SmallCap index declining by 1.34 per cent.

On NSE, Wipro was the top loser, slipping as much as 7 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, Reliance Industries, Eicher Motors and L&T. On the other hand, Ultratech Cement, NTPC, BPCL and Infosys recorded gains.

Sectorally, Nifty Realty, Nifty Consumer Durables, and Nifty Private Bank traded losses whereas Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Pharma led gains.

Moreover, Monday will also witness the Union government presenting the Economic Survey for 2023-24, ahead of the Budget. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the document in both Lok Sabha at 1 PM and Rajya Sabha at 2 PM, followed by a press conference at 2:30 PM.

Further, markets today are also assessing the US President Joe Biden withdrawing from the presidential race, and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.