Sensex, Nifty cautious in early trade tracking Asian markets

Other Asian markets witnessed selloffs as investors weighed renewed U.S. warnings of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine.

Domestic equity gauges Sensex and Nifty were marginally down in opening deals on February 18, as participants remained cautious tracking other Asian markets amid renewed fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The BSE Sensex was trading 70.40 points or 0.12% lower at 57,821.61 and the NSE Nifty was down 15.95 points or 0.09% at 17,288.65.

The Sensex was dragged lower by mainly IT shares with Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and HCL Tech dropping as much as 1.23%.

On the index, 22 shares were trading in the negative zone.

Analysts said that Indian markets opened flat in line with range-bound muted Asian markets and sharply lower U.S. markets on February 17.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said, "U.S. stocks ended sharply lower on February 17, as investors dealt with renewed fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine as the U.S. and its allies accused Moscow of continuing to build up troop levels.”