Domestic equity benchmarks Nifty 50 and the Sensex closed with losses on Monday led by banking and financial heavyweights, ahead of key macro numbers and mixed global cues.
At close, the Sensex was down 523 points or 0.73 per cent at 71,072.49, and the Nifty was down 166.50 points or 0.76 per cent at 21,616. About 791 shares advanced, 2618 shares declined, and 66 shares unchanged.
The overall market capitalisation of the firms listed on the BSE dropped to nearly Rs 379 lakh crore from nearly Rs 386.4 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors poorer by about Rs 7.4 lakh crore in a single session.
Top losers on the Nifty included Coal India, Hero MotoCorp, BPCL, ONGC, and NTPC, while gainers were Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Apollo Hospitals, Wipro, Divis Labs, and HCL Technologies.
On the sectoral front, FMCG, PSU Bank, capital goods, metal, oil & gas, power, and realty were down 1-4 per cent each, while healthcare and IT indices ended in the green. The BSE midcap index fell 2.6% and the smallcap index shed 3 per cent.
Shares of ICICI Bank, ITC, HDFC Bank and SBI ended as the top drags on the Sensex index.
Bank Nifty opened on a weak note near the 44,900 zone of the significant 200 period MA level but witnessed a decent recovery as the day progressed to end near the 45,600 levels with consolidation happening for quite some time.
The Nifty Bank index was nearly 2 per cent, with Bandhan Bank, PNB, Kotak Bank, IDFC First Bank, and IndusInd Bank leading the losses. All 12 index constituents were trading in the red.
The Nifty PSU bank index was down over 3 per cent, as Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank, PSB, Maharashtra Bank, UCO Bank, and Indian Bank stocks fell up to 10 per cent intraday.
Media stocks like Dish TV, DBC Corp, Hathway and Zee Entertainment Enterprises tanked up to 7.5 per cent, dragging the Nifty Media index over 2 per cent.
In the Nifty midcap 100 index, NHPC, IRFC, Bharat Dynamics, RVNL, and Yes Bank shares declined the most with a loss of around 8 to 12 per cent.
While most major Asian markets were closed for holidays, European markets were mixed when the Sensex closed.
Major global peers were mixed as investors waited for US inflation data due on Tuesday, British inflation data, and eurozone GDP on Wednesday.
The dollar was steady on Monday as a holiday in most major Asian markets subdued the start of what could turn into a busy week.
Indian rupee ended at 83 per dollar on Monday versus Friday’s close of 83.04.