Sensex, Nifty under pressure as Monday morning sees volatile session

• Wipro, HCL, Tech Mahindra and Infosys were the major gainers.
• PowerGrid, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank were among the laggards.
• Among Asian peers, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 and China's Shanghai Composite were trading marginally higher.

Equity benchmark indices, the Nifty and Sensex, witnessed see-saw movements in early trade on Monday, mainly tracking mixed trends in global markets. Opening on a positive note, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 52.48 points or 0.07%, to 71,647.97 points in early trade. However, it shed the gains and fell 147.85 points or 0.21% to 71,447.64 points. Similarly, the broader Nifty rose 30.7 points or 0.14% to 21,813.20 points before declining 44.60 points or 0.20% to 21,737.90 points. At the time of publishing, the benchmarks had slipped 0.5% in the red.

In the Sensex pack, Wipro, HCL, Tech Mahindra and Infosys were the major gainers while PowerGrid, Hindustan Unilever, Reliance, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank were among the laggards.

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said that rising US bond yields may trigger selling from foreign institutional investors. "So, the tug of war between the bulls and the bears is likely to continue."

"Apart from positive economic cues, a major factor supporting the market is the sustained flows to the market through mutual funds... however, the frothy valuations of the broader market are a matter of concern. From the long-term perspective, safety is in large-caps," he added.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 and China's Shanghai Composite were trading marginally higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was in the red.

On Friday, European markets closed in the negative territory while the US stocks ended on a mixed note.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.52% to USD 81.76 a barrel on Monday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth Rs 141.95 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

On Friday, Sensex climbed 167.06 points or 0.23% to settle at 71,595.49 points while the Nifty gained 64.55 points or 0.30% to close at 21,782.50 points.

(With text input from PTI)