Financial stocks take a knock

The 50-share Nifty edged down by 6.30 points, or 0.08 per cent, to close at 8,179.50

In a listless trading on Monday, the Sensex closed with a marginal loss of over 31 points at 26,595 on the first trading day of 2017, as banking stocks felt the heat due to worries that the lending rate cuts will hit their bottom line.

Investors started taking profit that made mood downbeat. There was accelerated selling after the manufacturing sector contracted in December, hit hard by demonetisation, and fresh weakness in the rupee. The Nikkei Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 49.6, down from 52.3 in November.

Opening on a weak note, the Sensex shuttled between