Sensex falls on selling in IT counters, weak Asian equities

New Delhi: Benchmark indices opened on Monday on a tepid note, with the Sensex dropping 330 points amid heavy selling in IT counters and weak trends in Asian markets. The 30-share BSE benchmark declined 330.14 points to 54,151.70 in early trade and the NSE Nifty went lower by 102.75 points to 16,117.85.

From the Sensex pack, Bharti Airtel, TCS, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Infosys and UltraTech Cement were the major laggards.

TCS tumbled 4.54 percent after its earnings failed to cheer investors.

The country's largest software exporter TCS on Friday reported 5.2 percent rise in June quarter net profit to Rs 9,478 crore, restricted by the impact of annual wage hikes and promotions that took operating profit margins to multi-quarter lows.

Meanwhile, NTPC, M&M, ITC and ICICI Bank were among the gainers.

In Asia, markets in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul were quoting significantly lower, while Tokyo was trading higher.

The US markets had ended on a mixed note on Friday.

The BSE benchmark advanced 303.38 points or 0.56 percent to settle at 54,481.84 on Friday. The broader Nifty went higher by 87.70 points or 0.54 percent to end at 16,220.60.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.37 percent to USD 106.63 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers on Friday, offloading shares worth Rs 109.31 crore, as per exchange data.