Shares surrendered handsome gains posted in early trade and ended in the red on selling at the tail-end on fresh political worries as the benchmark CNX Nifty completed seven-session of losing string on NSE today.
The 50-share index rose by a hefty 67 points in early trade on positive global cues and crossed the 5,700-mark but eventually lost over 17 points to settle at 5,633.85.
PSU banks, metal and auto counters suffered losses on selling pressure from investors, while realty, media, energy and PSE shares attracted good buying support.
Possibility of withdrawal of support by Samajwadi Party, a key outside ally of the UPA Government, mainly weighed on the market, a broker said.
The market had been already rattled after the DMK last week withdrew support to the Congress-led ruling coalition at the Centre as investors feared about fate of the new round of economic reform measures launced late last year.
Globally, Asian stocks, except China, closed in positive terrain on strong closing on Wall Street last Friday. European markets too were trading higher in early trade after Cyprus clinched an international bailout deal, reducing threat of its default.
The Nifty resumed higher and moved up further to hit a peak of 5,718.40. But later it met with strong resistance and settled at 5,633.85, a fall of 17.50 points, or 0.31 per cent, from last Friday's close.
Top five losers were Bank of Baroda 2.72 per cent, Hero MotoCorp 2.52 per cent, IDFC 2.48 per cent, L&T 2.34 per cent and Tata Steel 2.31 per cent. Top five gainers were DLF 4.85 per cent, ONGC 2.81 per cent, NTPC 2.26 per cent, BPCL 1.67 per cent and PowerGrid 1.42 per cent.
Turnover in the cash segment declined further to Rs 10,105.91 crore from Rs 10,352.08 crore last Friday. A total of 6,911.06 lakh shares changed hands in 56,01,925 trades. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 61,68,136 crore.
