Opening Bell: Markets open with mixed cues; power and utilities sectors in focus

India VIX jumped 7.27 per cent, trading at 18.97 in the initial hour of the trading session.

The domestic benchmark indices started the week in the red with Nifty trading below the 17,750 level on the back of weak global cues.  

At the time of market opening, BSE Sensex was down by 202.91 points or 0.34 per cent at 59,244.27 level while NSE Nifty 50 inched lower by 46.10 points or 0.26 per cent at 17,734 level. India VIX jumped 7.27 per cent, trading at 18.97 in the initial hour of the trading session. 

Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI Life Insurance, and HDFC were among the major losers on Nifty while the Top Gainers included Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, Grasim Industries, Cipla & NTPC. On Sensex, the leading stocks were UltraTech Cement, NTPC, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, TCS & Power Grid Corporation while the top losers were Infosys, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Industries, and HDFC. 

In the broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices traded in the green, up to 0.45 per cent & 0.68 per cent, respectively. At 9.50 am, in BSE Midcap index, the top gaining stocks were Ruchi Soya, Hindustan Aeronautics, Bharat Electronics, Tata Power & CRISIL while in BSE Smallcap index, Sandur Manganese & Iron Ores Ltd, Shiva Cement, JP Associates, Asian Granito India, and Dilip Buildcon. 

On the sectoral front, indices were trading with mixed cues as BSE Power and BSE Utilities indices were on the forefront, gaining up to 2.7 per cent each. The top power stocks on the index were Adani Transmission, Adani Power, Adani Green Energy, Tata Power, and Torrent Power.