Benchmark indices opened the day lower, following eight straight day of losses for the Nifty and if the losses on the Nifty hold today, it would be the Ninth straight day of losses for this benchmark index.

The Nifty was down 17 points in early trade at 11,261 points, as Asian cues remained weak, following uncertainty over trade tariffs between US and China.

The rupee also opened weak in trade and fell past the 70 per dollar mark to 70.17, a drop of 0.38 per cent.

From the Nifty leading the set of losers were Indiabulls Housing Finance, HDFC Bank and Yes Bank. However, Reliance Industries, which has seen a massive fall of 10 per cent in the last 8 to 10 trading sessions, gained ground in trade.

State Bank of India was leading gainers, following a good set of numbers reported on Friday. TCS too was up following the rupee depreciation.

Key data to watch today would be the inflation numbers. In all probability, Inflation would rise to near 3 percent in April versus 2.86 percent in March.

Markets are expected to be increasingly volatile this week, as it would be the last week to position oneself before the exit polls on May 19 and the election results on May 23.

GoodReturns.in