The Sensex and Nifty started on a negative note today amid weak Asian markets. While the Sensex fell 300 points to 37,864 with 25 components in the red, the Nifty lost 87 points to 11,369.

ONGC (1.54%), NTPC (1.34%) and Coal India (1.12%) were the top Sensex gainers. Top Sensex losers were Sun Pharma (1.61%), Vedanta (1.12%) and Kotak Bank (1.53%).

On Friday, the 30-share index closed at 38,164.61, down by 222.14 points, or 0.58 per cent.The NSE Nifty shed 64.15 points, or 0.56 per cent, to end at 11,456.90.

Meanwhile, the mid cap and small cap indices were trading 110 points and 99 points lower in early trade.

Market breadth was negative with 396 stocks trading higher compared to 1038 falling on the BSE.

Banking and metal stocks led the losses with their BSE indices falling 373 points and 185 points, respectively.

Capital goods stocks also fell 128 points with their index reaching 18,211 level.

On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 1374 crore on Friday , and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 675 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.

Global markets

Shares were sharply lower in Asia on Monday after Wall Street ended last week with a broad retreat. Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index tumbled 3.2 percent to 20,930.27, while the Shanghai Composite index declined 1.1 percent to 3,072.06. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 1.8 percent to 28,583.60 and South Korea's Kospi declined 1.7 percent to 2,149.39. The S&P ASX 200 gave up 1.2 percent to 6,120.60.

Edited by Aseem Thapliyal