Indian shares opened lower on Monday as investors braced for caution ahead of the key economic data scheduled later this week.
Investors would watch out for industrial production, inflation number and manufacturing production data scheduled to come on Thursday for further cues this week.
Asian markets edged higher as investors hoped for stimulus to support growth in the world’s major economies.
At 9:20 am, the Sensex was trading 171 points lower at 36,810, while the broader Nifty50 index was trading 50 points lower at 10,895. In broader markets, the Nifty Midcap fell 0.13 percent, while the Nifty Smallcap index shed 0.2 percent.
Indiabulls Housing, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, GAIL, and TCS were the top gainers on the Nifty50, while all top Nifty losers were auto stocks - Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Eicher Motors, HeroMoto Corp and Bajaj Auto led the losses.
All sectoral indices were trading in the red. The Nifty Auto index fell the most, down 1.4 percent, while the Nifty Bank index slipped 0.6 percent. The Nifty PSU Bank and the Nifty Private Bank fell over 0.5 percent each.
Major selling was seen in the auto stocks with Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Maruti Suzuki, Eicher Motors, and TCS Motor Company down between 1.6-2.5 percent.
Globally, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.1 percent. Australian stocks edged up 0.1 percent, South Korea's KOSPI percent rose 0.8 percent and Japan's Nikkei was up 0.5 percent. The Dow rose 0.25 percent and the S&P 500 percent edged up 0.1 percent on Friday.
