Sensex falls over 150 points, Nifty slips below 19,700; Delta Corp dives 9%; MMTC jumps 10% 
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Sensex falls over 150 points, Nifty slips below 19,700; Delta Corp dives 9%; MMTC jumps 10% Indian equity benchmarks traded lower in Monday's early deals amid a highly volatile session, dragged by banks, financials and pharma stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 161 points or 0.24 per cent to trade at 66,122, while the NSE Nifty was down 52 points or 0.26 per cent to trade at 19,699. Broader markets (mid- and small-cap shares) were mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 shed 0.02 per cent and small-cap rose 0.26 per cent. Investors turned cautious amid weakness in global markets and rise in oil prices due to nervousness around escalating violence in the Middle East.
Brent crude futures jumped above $90 per barrel today. Higher oil prices are a negative for net importers of the commodity, like India.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) snapped a 17-day selling streak on Friday, buying Indian shares worth Rs 317 crore. So far in October, foreign investors have offloaded equities worth Rs 9,784 crore. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 103 crore.
"Concerns regarding the spread of the Israel-Hamas conflict have triggered the sharp spike in Brent crude to above $90 and safe-haven buying has pushed gold to above $1900. The anxiety of the market is reflected in the CBOE VIX spiking above 19," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
11 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Pharma were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 0.33 per cent, 0.35 per cent and 0.36 per cent, respectively. On the flip side, Nifty Auto, Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Consumer Durables rose 0.55 per cent, 0.76 per cent and 0.56 per cent.
On the stock-specific front, Nestle India was the top loser in the Nifty pack as the stock cracked 1.40 per cent to trade at Rs 23,224.9. Divi's Labs, Asian Paints, BPCL and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) fell up to 1.37 per cent.
In contrast, Hero MotoCorp, Coal India, HCL Tech, Tata Motors and Titan were among the top gainers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,867 shares were advancing while 1,153 were declining on BSE.
On the 30-share BSE index, HDFC Bank, TCS, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the top laggards.
Also, Delta Corp, Hindware Home Innovation, HBL Power Systems, Agi Greenpac and Adani Power tanked up to 8.97 per cent. On the other hand, MMTC, MSTC, Jai Corp, GATI and Vakrangee jumped up to 12.20 per cent.
On Friday, Sensex had slipped 126 points or 0.19 per cent to close at 66,283, while Nifty had moved 43 points or 0.22 per cent down to settle at 19,751.
Nifty outlook
"We will begin the week requiring Nifty to float above 19,730 to show positive bias. As maintained last week, prospects of a collapse is low, and we are probably slowly gearing up for a 20,020 move, but the positivity can evaporate quickly should we get back below 19,650 again," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
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