Sensex Falls 200 Points And Nifty 50 below 17,800

Benchmark Sensex dropped 334 points on Monday due to intense selling pressure in metal and power stocks as FII outflows dampened investor sentiment.

Besides, a sharp decline in the rupee against the US dollar also put pressure on domestic equities, traders said.

After losing nearly 500 points, the 30-share BSE index recovered some lost ground to settle at 334.98 points or 0.55 per cent lower at 60,506.90. During the session, the index touched its intra-day low of 60,345.61.

The broader NSE Nifty dipped 89.45 points or 0.50 per cent to end at 17,764.60 as 34 of its stocks dropped.

Tata Steel was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, falling 2.08 per cent, followed by Kotak Bank, Infosys, ICICI Bank, M&M, Ultra Cement and Tata Motors.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, PowerGrid and ITC were among the major winners.

Moreover, Sensex declined more than 200 points in early trade today, tracking losses in index-heavyweights Infosys, TCS and HUL amid a broadly negative trend in global markets.

Besides, a weak rupee against major rivals dented the domestic equity market sentiments, traders said.

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On Friday, the Sensex surged 909.64 points or 1.52 per cent to settle at 60,841.88 points while the Nifty advanced 243.65 points or 1.38 per cent to end at 17,854.05 points.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul were trading with losses in mid-session deals while Tokyo market was in the positive territory on Monday.

The Wall Street ended lower on Friday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.25 per cent to USD 80.14 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in capital markets as they offloaded shares worth Rs 932.44 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, Asian shares slipped on Monday after a run of upbeat economic data from the United States and globally lessened the risk of recession, but also suggested interest rates would have to rise further and stay up for longer, mews agency Reuters reported.

The dollar extended its rally on the yen to a three-week top of 132.60 on Monday amid reports the Japanese government had offered the job of central bank governor to the current deputy, Masayoshi Amamiya.

In equity markets, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.5%, with South Korea down 0.6%. Chinese blue chips lost 1.0%.

Japan’s Nikkei added 1.1%, encouraged by hopes the BOJ would keep policy easy.

S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures eased 0.2% as the stellar January payrolls report forced investors to price in the risk of more hikes from the Federal Reserve, and less chance of cuts later in the year.

(With inputs from PTI)

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