Mumbai, April 2 -- The key equity benchmarks opened on a weak note in early trade, tracking global risk aversion after Donald Trump's hawkish stance on Iran. Brent crude surged toward $105, raising inflation concerns. Domestic markets remained cautious ahead of the weekly expiry of BSE Sensex contracts. Being the final session of a truncated week, volatility is expected to stay elevated with global cues guiding trade.

The Nifty traded below the 22,550 mark. All the sectoral indices are traded in red on the NSE with realty, pharma and PSU bank shares declining the most.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tanked 1,380.51 points or 1.88% to 71,746.89. The Nifty 50 index slipped 428.20 points or 1.89% to 22,512.20.

The ...