The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Monday were trading flat in early morning hours amid volatility. At 9.45 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was marginally up 26 points to 66,034. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty was trading at 19,675, up 1.45 per cent.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Bajaj twins, Maruti, Asian Paints, UltraCemco, JSW Steel were among early gainers. On the downside, L&T, Infosys, HCL, ITC, Wipro, TCS, HCL emerged losers.

Among specific stocks, Bajaj Finance’s shares rose 2.5 per cent per cent as board is set to convene a meeting on October 5 to consider raising funds via a qualified institutional placement (QIP). Shares of Delta Corp, the casino operator, crashed 10 per cent after it got a tax notice, demanding Rs 11,140 crore in taxes, interest, and penalties for the period July 2017 to March 2022.

#ABPLiveStockMarketWatch | Indian equity benchmarks opened in the mixed on Monday early trade

At 09:35 AM, #Sensex went up by 31 points to 66,040 & #Nifty went down by 2 points to 19,672

Here’s a look at the stocks in focus:#StockMarket #StockMarketPrices #Trading #Stock pic.twitter.com/vsYuIW4XHp

— ABP LIVE (@abplive) September 25, 2023

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were outperforming the indices with gains of 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively.

Sectorally, several indices were trading flat. The Nifty Financial Services index was up 0.3 per cent, followed by the Nifty Auto index (up 0.2 per cent), while the Nifty IT index declined 0.3 per cent.

In the previous session on Friday, the BSE Sensex was down 221 points at 66,009.15, while the NSE Nifty50 declined 68.10 points to 19,674.25. 

Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated by 16 paise to 83.10 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, taking cues from subdued equity market sentiment and a firm American currency against major rivals overseas. Withdrawal of foreign funds from domestic equities and upward movement in crude oil prices also weighed on the Indian currency, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened weak at 83.04 and hit the lowest level of 83.10 against the greenback, registering a fall of 16 paise from its previous close. On Friday, the rupee gained 19 paise to close at 82.94 against the dollar.