Sensex drops nearly 300 points amid choppy trades

Benchmark indices ended lower amid a choppy trading session on sustained selling in energy and select banking shares.Further, the domestic sentiment dampened as investors remained cautious ahead of the ahead of key events including Economic Survey, Railway Budget and Union Budget along with the expiry of February series due later during the week.

Provisionally, the 30-share Sensex ended 296 points lower at 28,935 whereas the 50-share Nifty lost 92 points to close at 8,741.

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(updated at 3.30PM)

Benchmark indices extend losses owing to weakness in the Index heavy heavyweights including RIL, HDFC and ITC. Also, investors have turned cautious ahead of the ahead of key events including Economic Survey, Railway Budget and Union Budget along with the expiry of February series due later during the week.

At 2.50 PM, the 30-share Sensex is lower by 225  points at 29,009 whereas the 50-share Nifty has lost 77 points at 8,757

Meanwhile, investors are keenly watching out for the key developments during the Budget session where Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will present its first full-year spending plan and look to pass key bills to revive the economy.

Further, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in Indian equities to the tune of Rs 89 crore on Friday, as per provisional stock exchange data.

COMMODITY CORNER

Gold hovered around the key $1,200-an-ounce level on Monday, its lowest in seven weeks, as support for the safe-haven metal eased after a deal was struck over Greece's debt, while the absence of major consumer China also took a toll.

Oil prices dipped on Monday on worries about oversupply in North America, with Brent futures testing support around $60 a barrel and U.S. contracts hovering around $50.70.

RUPEE

The rupee strengthened by seven paise to 62.15 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on increased selling of the American currency by exporters and banks.

KEY STOCKS

On the sectoral front, BSE Consumer Durables index is the top loser down nearly 2% followed by Oil & gas, FMCG, Auto, Realty and Bankex down between 0.5-2%. However, BSE Capital Goods index is the only sectoral index which is trading with gains and is up nearly 0.5%

RIL has shed 1.7%. The stock had lost close to 3% in the last session over the corporate espionage controversy.

After postponing tender deadline thrice and also one year later, state-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltdhas not found any bidder for its $ 7 billion tender to hire newly-built LNG ships to ferry gas from the US. The stock is down over 1%.

Infosys is evaluating a dozen more startups after acquiring an automation startup Panaya for Rs 1,200 crore with an aim of gaining cutting-edge technology such as automation and artificial intelligence (AI). The stock has lost 0.5%.

Hindalco has lost over 0.5% on profit booking. Last week, Hindalco won the Gare Palma IV/4 coal block in Chhatisgarh for Rs 3,001 per tonne, according to the results of e-Auction for Schedule II coal mines announced by the Ministry of Coal on Friday, 20 February 2015.

Other major losers include Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, HDFC, HUL and ITC which are down between 1-2%.

On the flip side, the market valuation of TCS surged by Rs 26,677.87 crore at Rs 5,23,930.35 crore. Stock is up 0.7%. 

A smart rally in the capital goods sector is evident on expectations that the government will increase infrastructure spending and announce incentives to the manufacturing sector to boost growth. L&T has surged nearly 1%.

Shares of  Mahindra & Mahindra are witnessing buying interest on Monday as a media report suggest that the Swedish luxury carmaker Volvo is looking for a partner for its manufacturing plant in India. The stock is up nearly 1%.

Sesa Sterlite is up 2%. Last week, Sesa Sterlite sought shareholder approval to chnage its name to Vedanta, according to the company's release to BSE. 

State-owned Coal India (CIL) is gearing up to invest about Rs 6,000 crore towards capital expenditure in the next fiscal and an equal amount on augmenting other infrastructure, including rail connectivity. Stock has climbed nearly 0.5%.

In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are down 0.4% and 0.1%. Market breadth in BSE is weak with 1,649 declines against 1,155 advances.