Tracking a decline in Asian peers, Indian benchmark equity indices closed lower on Monday after succumbing to selling pressure in a volatile session. A pullback in financials after a recent rally weighed and fading hopes of an early US rate cut also hurt sentiment.
Indices were dragged by index heavyweight Reliance Industries, financial, and IT stocks.
The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex declined 354 points or 0.49% to settle at 71,731. The broader NSE Nifty dropped 82 points or 0.38% to end at 21,771.
From the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finance and Bharti Airtel were the top laggards, falling over 3% each. Maruti, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Tech, and Titan also closed with cuts, while Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, and M&M closed with gains.
Among individual stocks, One 97 Communications or Paytm on Monday fell another 10% to its lower circuit limit at Rs 438.35 on BSE. In the last three trading sessions, including Monday, the stock has lost 42.4% of its value or Rs 20,500 crore in market capitalisation.
On the sectoral front, Nifty Consumer Durables fell 1.2%, while Nifty FMCG dropped 0.76%. Nifty Bank, Financial Services, FMCG, IT, and Media also closed lower, while Nifty Auto, Metal, Pharma, oil & Gas, Realty, and Healthcare closed higher.
