Market records steepest weekly declines in over two years
At close, Sensex ended near the 78,000 mark, shedding 1.5% from the previous session, while the Nifty fell below 23,600, also down 1.5%.
The key Indian equity markets traded marginally lower on Monday afternoon weighed on by heightened geo-political tensions in the Middle East, along with broadly negative cues from the Asian markets.
Healthy buying in healthcare and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks however restricted further losses.
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At around 12.58 pm, the NSE Nifty50 was down 9.50 points or 0.09 per cent to trade at 10,471.10 points.
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The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 33,944.73 points, traded at 34,147.31 points (12.58 p.m.) – down 45.34 points or 0.13 per cent from its previous session’s close.
The Sensex touched a high of 34,169.29 points and a low of 33,899.34 points during the intra-day trade so far.
The BSE market breadth was bearish with 1,445 declines and 982 advances.
“Sensex and NSE’s Nifty 50 opened lower on Monday amid geopolitical tensions over Syria and trade war concerns,” said Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls.
On Friday, both the indices ended in the green due to healthy macro-economic data, along with robust buying in metals, IT and healthcare stocks.
The wider Nifty50 closed higher by 41.50 points or 0.40 per cent to 10,458.65 points, while the Sensex closed at 34,192.65 points, up 91.52 points or 0.27 per cent.
The major gainers on the BSE on Monday so far were Asian Paints, Mahindra and Mahindra, HDFC, Hero MotoCorp and ITC, while Tata Motors (DVR), Tata Motors, Infosys, Tata Steel, ONGC were among the main losers.
On the NSE, the top gainers were Cipla, Grasim Industries and Lupin, while the top losers were Tata Motors, Infosys and Vedanta.
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