Benchmark indices open in the red; Sensex down 200 points, Nifty at 12166

The benchmark indices on Tuesday (January 21) opened in the red. The Sensex was down 221.90 points or 0.53 percent at 41307.01, while the broader Nifty opened 58.30 points down or 0.48 percent at 12166. The top gainer stocks include Bharti Infratel and Zee Entertainment, while Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India (SBI) are the most active stocks.

Indian rupee today opened at 71.18 per dollar, lower by 8 paise against the previous day's close of 71.10. 

On Monday, equity benchmark indices erased opening gains and continued to slide throughout the session due to profit booking as concerns over a cut in supply from Libya sent oil prices higher.

The BSE S&P Sensex closed 416 points or one per cent lower at 41,537 while the Nifty 50 edged down by 126 points at 12,227. Except for Nifty FMCG and realty, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were in the red with Nifty bank down by 1.56 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian shares took a sudden lurch lower on Tuesday as a ripple of risk aversion swept markets, though analysts could find no obvious trigger for the move. Safe-haven bonds and the yen edged higher in what was very thin trade, leading dealers to look for likely culprits, said a Reuters report.

MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.9%, while Japan`s Nikkei lost 0.8% and Shanghai blue chips shed 0.9%. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 eased 0.3%.

The mood has already been cautious after the International Monetary Fund trimmed its global growth forecasts, mostly due to a surprisingly sharp slowdown in India and other emerging markets.

The IMF now sees growth at 3.3% this year, down from 3.4% and also cut the 2021 forecast to 3.4% from 3.6%. Yet it still lifted the outlook for China to 6%.

Against a basket of currencies, the dollar was steady at 97.627 after touching a four-week high at 97.729.

Spot gold edged up to $1,566.71 per ounce, and back toward a seven-year peak of $1,610.90 reached last week.

Oil prices hesitated, after gaining on the risk of supply disruption in Libya. Brent crude futures eased 10 cents to $65.10 a barrel, while U.S. crude rose 11 cents to $58.65.

(With Agency Inputs)