Nifty maintains downtrend, slips by 20 points

The benchmark Nifty fell for the fourth consecutive session by slipping 20 points on profit-booking in key banking and finance, IT and energy counters.
The index failed to preserve initial momentum as volatility continued amid caution ahead of expiry of March derivative contract this week.
The broader market also dropped as shares of mid-cap and small-cap companies saw hectic profit-booking.
However, the market did witness buying in auto and metals.
The broad-based 50-share Nifty opened higher at 8,591.55 and moved in a range of 8,608.35 and 8,540.55 before closing over five-week low at 8,550.90, showing a loss of 20 points, or 0.23 per cent.

Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 354.59 crore last Friday as per provisional data.

Elsewhere, Asian equities mostly traded higher.
Stockwise, shares of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) were hammered, slumping by 6.17 per cent as the government rejected bids on auction of coal blocks recently.
Other major losers are BHEL 3.64 per cent, Tech Mahindra 3.17 per cent, Cairn 3.02 per cent, NMDC 2.51 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.51 per cent and Reliance Industries 1.42 per cent.
Notable gainers were NTPC 3.20 per cent, Hindalco 2.92 per cent, M&M 1.73 per cent, Sesa Sterlite 1.65 per cent, and GAIL 1.63 per cent.

Turnover in the cash segment plunged to Rs 13,648.22 crore against Rs 20,175.18 crore last Friday. A total of 7,316.22 lakh shares changed hands in 65,62,001 trades. The market capitalisation at NSE stood at Rs 99,37,994 crore.