Mumbai, Aug. 17 -- The Indian equity markets opened weak on Monday, with the Sensex falling over 300 points and the Nifty slipping below 24,300, extending Friday's decline as investors remained cautious amid geopolitical tensions and elevated crude oil prices.

Sensex opened marginally higher at 77,892.92 against the previous close of 78,009.25; however, it hit a low of 77,655.64 in the early morning trade. Nifty, on the other hand, opened at 24,343.45, slightly lower against previous close of 24,366. All the broad market indices were trading in the red; sectorally, auto, pharma, healthcare, and chemical sectors traded positively.

Nifty IT and PSU emerged as top sectoral losers, dropping over a per cent during early morning trade. Sensex...