Mumbai, Apr 9 (IANS): Indian equity and the currency market opened on a flat note on Tuesday as investors feared a further rise in crude oil prices owing to concerns over exports from the war-torn Libya.

The oil prices were already on the rise over US sanctions in Iran and Venezuela which has curtailed global crude oil supply. Moreover, the OPEC-led production cut also pushed up the prices.

The benchmark, Brent Crude surged over the $71 a barrel mark.

Except the export oriented IT stocks, all other sectoral stocks on the NSE witnessed heavy selling pressure.

The BSE Sensex opened at 38,730.93, slightly higher from its previous close of 38,700.53. At 9.39 a.m., the Sensex was down 28.32 points or 0.07 per cent at 38,672.21.

The broader Nifty traded 17.85 points lower at 0.15 per cent. It opened marginally higher at 11,612.05 from its previous close of 11,604.50.

On Monday, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 329.60 crore while the Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) sold stocks worth Rs 623.81 crore.