New Delhi: Equity benchmark indices opened on a negative note on Monday, with Sensex falling over 158 points in early trade amid mixed global trends.

The 30-share Sensex fell 158.57 points or 0.22 percent to 72,984.23 points while the broader Nifty slipped 33.20 points or 0.15 percent to 22,179.50 points.

As many as 20 Sensex constituents were in the red, with Asian Paints falling over 3.60 percent while Wipro, Titan and Tech Mahindra dropped more than 1 percent.

In the Nifty pack, 31 stocks were trading lower.

Sensex and Nifty closed marginally lower on Friday.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said Asian shares were mixed near seven-month highs on Monday as investors awaited inflation data from the US, Japan, and Europe that will help refine expectations for future rate moves.

"China's new home prices fell for the seventh month in January, leaving sentiment fragile as policymakers' efforts to restore confidence in the debt-ridden sector struggled for traction," he said.

On Friday, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers as they purchased securities worth Rs 1,276.09 crore.

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said, "Sustained buying by DIIs (Rs 21,700 crore in February so far) supported by HNIs and retail investors has completely eclipsed the FII selling. FIIs have lost in this tug of war with DIIs since the market has been scaling new highs despite FII selling."

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