Weak global indices, coupled with an outflow of foreign funds and rupee depreciation, subdued the Indian equity markets on Monday.
The key indices which started off on a flat-to-negative note, traded range-bound throughout the day, as heavy selling pressure was witnessed in consumer durables, healthcare and automobile stocks.
The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) inched down by 35.10 points or 0.43 per cent to 8,104.35 points.
The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 26,505.66 points, closed at 26,374.70 points -- down 114.86 points or 0.43 per cent from the previous close at 26,489.56 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 26,505.66 points and a low of 26,340.38 points during the intra-day trade.
The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bears -- with 1,571 declines and 1,056 advances.
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The equity markets were dragged lower by broadly negative global markets, coupled with an outflow of foreign funds, on Friday last week.
The barometer index was down 29.51 points or 0.11 per cent, while the NSE Nifty slipped by 14.15 points or 0.17 per cent.
"The domestic markets opened on negative note tracking the clues from global market. Overall market sentiments and data are negative, but power generation and distribution companies gained on renewed buying," SMC Global Securities said in a commentary to IANS.
"The RBI's announcement related to cap on deposits of old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes also puzzled the movement of the market."
However, the Indian rupee weakened by 10 paise to 67.87 against a US dollar from its previous close of 67.77 to a greenback.
"Indian rupee ended the day on a negative note as demand for dollar was seen by importers," the stock brokerage firm said.
In terms of investments, provisional data with exchanges showed that the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth Rs 535.77 crore, whereas the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased scrip worth Rs 556.36 crore.
According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, sideways movement was seen in the USD/INR futures prices which did not provide clear direction to the Indian equity markets in the intra-day session.
"IT, banking, pharma, auto, oil-gas and media-entertainment stocks traded with bearish sentiments while FMCG, cement and power stocks also traded with bearish sentiments due to selling pressure," Desai elaborated.
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE consumer durables index plunged by 137.43 points, followed by the healthcare index by 129.82 points, and the automobile index by 119.96 points.
On the other hand, the S&P BSE oil and gas index surged by 116.42 points, the energy index rose by 15.44 points, and the utilities index was up only 7.62 points.
Major Sensex gainers on Monday were: Gail, up 2.23 per cent at Rs 424.35; ICICI Bank, up 0.51 per cent at Rs 256.90; Cipla, up 0.43 per cent at Rs 569.45; Reliance Industries, up 0.43 per cent at Rs 1,062.15; and Lupin, up 0.42 per cent at Rs 1,474.70.
Major Sensex losers were: Asian Paints, down 2.35 per cent at Rs 879.70; Sun Pharmaceuticals, down 2.30 per cent at Rs 632.20; HDFC, down 1.58 per cent at Rs 1,250.25; Bharti Airtel, down 1.56 per cent at Rs 305.10; and Maruti Suzuki, down 1.32 per cent at Rs 5,115.30.
--IANS
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