Mkts pare early gains, drift lower

Mumbai : Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty pared early gains to close lower in a volatile session on Monday dragged by selling in industrials and oil & gas shares in the last hour. The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 217.41 points or 0.29 per cent to settle at 74,115.17 with 22 of its constituents ending lower and eight with gains. The index opened higher and touched a high of 74,741.25 during the day. However, selling pressure emerged in the pre-close session pulling the index down by 310.34 points or 0.41 per cent to a low of 74,022.24. The Nifty of NSE declined by 92.20 points or 0.41 per cent to close at 22,460.30. The market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed firms eroded by Rs4,43,269.25 crore to Rs3,93,85,818.73 crore ($4.51 trn).

“Global headwinds continue to drag the market sentiment, with the rise in US unemployment rates and tariffs leading to uncertainty, indicating that volatility is here to stay for the near term. The domestic macros are favouring investors to start accumulating the beaten-down stocks with caution in the short term, while the long term appears attractive,” Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

The BSE smallcap gauge declined 2.11 per cent while midcap index dropped 1.46 per cent.

“Sensex and Nifty50 closed lower primarily due to uncertainty surrounding US tariffs and concerns about ongoing foreign selling, which affected market sentiment. Markets were choppy as key benchmarks slipped into the red towards the closing stages with broader markets, particularly mid and small-cap stocks boring the brunt,” added Ameya Ranadive Chartered Market Technician, CFTe, Sr Technical Analyst, StoxBox. As many as 2,877 stocks declined while 1,203 advanced and 149 remained unchanged on the BSE.

“With rupee depreciating sharply and foreign fund outflows showing no signs of cooling off, markets may continue to exhibit volatility,” remarked Prashanth Tapse, senior V-P (research), Mehta Equities Ltd. From the 30 Sensex companies, IndusInd Bank, Zomato, Larsen & Toubro, Titan, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services were among the laggards. On the other hand, Power Grid, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, Nestle India, Asian Paints, ITC, Sun Pharmaceuticals and ICICI Bank were the gainers.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, Industrials, Oil & Gas, Capital Goods, Consumer Durables, Realty, Energy, Consumer Discretionary, Services, Auto, Commodities, metal, healthcare and Telecommunication were the laggards. FMCG and Utilities were the gainers.