Mumbai, Nov 4 (IANS): The Indian stock market opened in the red on Monday as heavy selling was seen in auto, IT, PSU banks, financial services and FMCG sectors.

The BSE Sensex was trading at 79,021.43 after falling 702.69 points or 0.88 per cent in the early trade.

At the same time, the NSE Nifty was trading at 24,085.80 after losing 218.55 points or 0.9 per cent.

The market trend remained negative in the morning trade.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 507 stocks were trading in the green, while 1777 stocks were trading in the red.

Nifty Bank was at 51,393.30 after falling 280.60 points or 0.54 per cent.

The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 56,113.80 after falling 382.25 points or 0.68 per cent.

At the same time, the Nifty Small cap 100 index was at 18,592.45 after falling 202.45 points or 1.08 per cent.

Sun Pharma, Reliance, Tata Motors, Infosys, Titan, Maruti, NTPC and Axis Bank were the top losers in the Sensex pack.

At the same time, M&M, Tech Mahindra, HCL and IndusInd Bank were the top gainers.

According to market experts, in the next couple of days, markets globally will be focussed on the US presidential elections and there can be near-term volatility in response to the election outcome.

However, this is likely to be short-lived and economic fundamentals like US growth, inflation and the Fed action will influence the market trend.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) may continue to sell in this difficult earnings growth environment, constraining any rally in the market, they said.

In Asian markets, the markets of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul were trading in the green.

Whereas the markets of Tokyo, Bangkok and Jakarta were trading in the green.

The US stock market closed in the green on the last trading day. FIIs sold equities worth Rs 211 crore on November 1, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 377 crore on the same day.