The Indian benchmark indices observed significant losses on Monday as the Sensex declined over 312 points to close at 84,728.92 and the Nifty fell more than 90 points to end trade at 25,951.90.
In the 30-share BSE Sensex, among the top gaining stocks were stocks such as Tata Steel, Asian Paint, Hindustan Unilever, Eternal and NTPC. Meanwhile, the laggards included stocks like the State Bank of India, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Kotak Bank, Bajaj Finance and TechMahindra.
In the broader markets, Nifty Smallcap 50 declined 0.87 per cent. Sectorally, the Nifty IT index fell 0.75 per cent.
During early morning trade, the Sensex started trading below 85,150, climbing close to 100 points, while the Nifty50 opened at nearly 26,100, rising more than 30 points, at 9:15 AM.
Previously, on Friday, the Sensex declined 367.25 points, or 0.43 per cent, to close at 85,041.45. The Nifty slipped 99.80 points, or 0.38 per cent, to settle at 26,042.30.
Global Markets
Asian equities opened mostly higher, with South Korea’s Kospi, China’s Shanghai SSE Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng trading in the green. In contrast, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was quoted lower. Wall Street ended the previous session on a flat note on Friday.
Foreign Investors And Commodities
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers, offloading equities worth Rs 317.56 crore on Friday. Meanwhile, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) remained net buyers, purchasing stocks worth Rs 1,772.56 crore, as per exchange data.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.04 per cent to USD 61.27 per barrel.
Markets Poised For Range-Bound Year-End Trade
With only a few trading sessions left in the year, Indian equity markets are expected to move in a consolidation phase rather than witness sharp directional swings. Market participants noted that persistent foreign fund outflows may continue to fuel volatility, even as overall direction remains unclear.
In the holiday-truncated week that just ended, the Sensex advanced 112.09 points, or 0.13 per cent, while the Nifty added 75.90 points, or 0.29 per cent, indicating cautious optimism amid bouts of profit-taking.
