Indian stocks opened slightly lower on Tuesday, as mixed international prompts and increasing oil prices amidst growing geopolitical concerns affected investor sentiment.
The standard S&P BSE Sensex was down by 325 points or 0.5% at 72,507, while the wider NSE Nifty index fell by 74 points or 0.3% to 22,023.
Shares in Bharti Airtel dropped by 1% due to the news that the telecom company is planning to increase its tariffs after the Lok Sabha elections.
Paytm shares also fell by 1.6% after the company refuted claims of staff layoffs.
Shares of ICICI Securities dropped around 2% after Norway's Norges Bank Investment Management voted against the proposed merger of the company with ICICI Bank, showing support for its delisting instead.
Maruti Suzuki's shares fell by 1.3% following the news that it had acquired a 6.44% stake in Amlgo Labs, a start-up specializing in artificial intelligence based in Delhi NCR.
Tech Mahindra saw a decline of 0.5% as it announced the amalgamation of its two U.S-based subsidiaries.
Shares of IIFL Finance and JM Financial plunged by 4.6% and 3.7% respectively, after the Reserve Bank of India initiated a special audit due to the companies' alleged violations.
