Mumbai, Nov 21 (IANS) The Indian stock market opened in red on Thursday amid rising Russia-Ukraine war tensions. Heavy selling was seen in the PSU bank sector in early trade and Nifty PSU Bank was down by more than 4 per cent.

In early trade at 9:43 a.m., Sensex was trading at 76,968.28 after slipping 610.10 points or 0.79 per cent. Nifty was trading at 23,308.85 after falling 209.65 points or 0.89 per cent.

Market trend remained negative. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 445 stocks were trading in green, while 1560 stocks were trading in red.

Nifty Bank was at 50,299.40 after falling 397.10 points or 0.78 per cent. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 54,377.85 after falling 170.40 points or 0.31 per cent. The Nifty Small cap 100 index was at 17,582.85 after falling 94.50 points or 0.53 per cent.

In the Sensex pack, SBI, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Asian Paints, ITC, Tata Motors, L&T and Nestle India were the top losers. Infosys, TCS, HCL Tech, HDFC Bank and Tech Mahindra were the top gainers.

Market experts said that the increasing tension in the Ukraine-Russia war could affect the market. However, they do not see any possibility of a sharp decline in the market.

"The escalation of tensions in the Ukraine-Russia war can weigh on markets. The element of uncertainty caused by the escalations is high and therefore most market participants are likely to be in a wait and watch mode. However, any sharp slide in the market appears unlikely since the mother market US has largely downplayed the escalation," they said.

In the Asian markets, except Jakarta and Seoul, Shanghai, Tokyo, Bangkok and Hong Kong were trading in red. The US stock markets closed in green on the previous trading day.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 3,411 crore on November 19, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 2,783 crore on the same day.