Sensex slips 131 points, Nifty below 18,400; HDFC twins fall, ONGC, Oil India gain

Domestic equities opened flat on Tuesday, amid improved global cues, and ahead of key Q4 earnings data due today. S&P BSE benchmark Sensex opened 4.65 points, or 0.1 per cent down 62,341.06, while broader NSE Nifty 50 was up 5 points, or 0.03 per cent to open at 18,403.90.

Broader markets were outperforming key indices in early trade, as Nifty Midcap 50 gained 0.60 per cent, Nifty Midcap 150 gained 0.55 per cent, Nifty Microcap 250 jumped 0.63 per cent, while, Nifty Midsmallcap 400 gained 0.50 per cent.

By 9.30 am, Sensex was down 130.96 points, or 0.21 per cent to 62,214.75, while, Nifty was trading at 18,398.85, after a fall of 20.05 points, or 0.11 per cent.

Sectorally, the PSU Bank index jumped 0.79 per cent, and the Nifty Metal gained 0.78 per cent, meanwhile, the realty index climbed 0.72 per cent at open. On the other hand, media index slumped 0.63 per cent, Nifty Financial Services was down 0.39 per cent, and Nifty Private Bank was down 0.25 per cent.

HDFC twins — HDFC, HDFC Bank — were among the biggest laggard in the opening trade after the companies said they will turn ex-dividend. HDFC was down 1.77 per cent at this hour, while, HDFC Bank fell 1.27 per cent.

ONGC gained 1.24 per cent, while Oil India jumped 1.83 per cent after the government slashed the windfall tax on petroleum crude yesterday to zero.

PVR fell 3.19 per cent in the opening trade after the company on Monday said that its consolidated net loss for the Q4FY23 stood at Rs 333.35 crore against a net loss of Rs 105.49 crore a year ago.

HDFC, HDFC Bank, Maruti, M&M, UPL, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, ITC, Kotak Bank, Apollo Hospitals, and Tata Consumers were among the top losing stocks at this hour.

Meanwhile, Divis Lab, Cipla, ONGC, Infosys, Hero MotoCorp, Hindalco, Wipro, BPCL, Sun Pharma, and Asian Paints were among the top gainers in the opening trade.