The Indian markets ended in the negative territory on Monday as Sensex went down 518.64 points to 61,144.84 level while Nifty declined 150 points to 18,157.37 level. The markets were weighed down by the heavyweights such as ITC, Reliance Industries and HDFC Twins, among others.

Among the broad-based indices, BSE SmallCap lost 2.48 points to end at 28,752 with EaseMyTrip, IFCI, Central Bank, Escorts, J&K Bank and DishTV, among the gainers on the index.

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BSE MidCap lost 38.07 points and ended at 25,096.85, with IOB, Manyavar, Union Bank, Max Health and Torrent Power among the active stocks while BSE LargeCap lost 59.95 points to settle at 7,025.88 level, while PNB, Indus Tower, Havells, Bharti Airtel and IOC among the most active stocks on the index.

Among the shares that were active on Monday, Airtel rose about 1.72 per cent as the telecom company launched 5G services in Guwahati on Monday.

Punjab National Bank shares went up 3.82 per cent to Rs 47.60 apiece while Archean Chemical Industries which got listed today moved 12.57 per cent on BSE. Escorts’ shares gain 8.13% to Rs 2,188 apiece on BSE.

In line with stock indices, the Indian rupee too weakened this morning. It opened at 81.85 per US dollar as against its Friday closing of 81.69. Indian stock indices extended their slump for the third consecutive session to start a fresh week.

Continued profit booking by investors coupled with an eye on the future course of monetary policy action by the US Federal Reserve weighed on the indices.

The rupee has relatively strengthened in most of the recent sessions against the global benchmark dollar as the US dollar index has weakened substantially.

The latest weakening of the US dollar is a positive for other currencies.
In October, the rupee, however, breached the 83 mark for the first time in its history.

According to VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at brokerage Geojit Financial Services: “The optimism driven by the recent decline in US inflation has run its course and the market is likely to wait for further data on the direction of US inflation and interest rates.”

“So, this is the time to play defensively rather than taking risky shots at the goal. Cautious defensive games can be a good short-term strategy,” Vijayakumar added.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities said Asian share markets turned hesitant on Monday as investors fretted about the economic fallout from fresh Covid-19 restrictions in parts of China.