Equity markets see high volatility, Sensex falls 150 points, nifty down 37 points

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty faced heavy volatility in early trade on Monday amid selling in blue chips like Infosys and ICICI bank. This happened amid a weak trend in the Asian markets.

Fresh foreign fund outflows also dented market sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened on a positive note, but soon witnessed selling pressure from investors and declined 151.36 points or 0.19 per cent to 81,557.76 in the initial trade.

In tandem, the broader NSE Nifty after opening on a higher note, fell 37.45 points or 0.15 per cent to 24,640.35 in early hours.

From the Sensex pack, Hindustan Unilever, Nestle India, UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Steel were the major stragglers.

In contrast, Larsen & Toubro, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharmaceuticals, HDFC Bank and NTPC were among the major gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Hong Kong and Shanghai were trading in the negative territory, while Tokyo quoted higher.