Opening Bell: Sensex opens nearly 200 points lower, Nifty below 12,200; metals lose shine

Indian equity benchmark indices opened lower on Monday dragged by selling in metals amid the escalating concerns over coronavirus in China.

At 9:15 am, the Sensex opened 193.57 points or 0.47 percent lower to 41,419.62 while the Nifty50 index opened at 12,182.35, down 65.90 points or 0.54 percent.

Broader indices also traded in the red with Nifty Midcap100 and Nifty Smallcap100 indexes down 0.29 percent and 0.16 percent respectively.

India VIX (Volatility Index) was up 7.39 percent, indicating a bearish investor sentiment towards the market today.

Nifty Metal remained the worst-performing index in the early morning session while Nifty Realty was the only sectoral index to trade in the green.

ICICI Bank, YES Bank, UltraTech Cement, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and TCS were the Nifty50 top gainers while JSW Steel, Vedanta, Tata Steel, Hindalco and Tata Motors remained the top losers.

Shares of ICICI Bank traded 1.11 percent higher to Rs 539.80 per share on the NSE after the Bank reported net profit surge of 158 percent YoY to Rs 4,146.5 crore helped largely by the Essar Steel recovery and a jump in its core income.

Meanwhile, in Asia, stocks tumbled as investors grew increasingly anxious about the economic impact of China's spreading virus outbreak, with demand spiking for safe-haven assets such as the Japanese yen and Treasury notes.