People walk past the Bombay Stock Exchange building in Mumbai. , Photo Credit: PTI
Heavy selling pressure in metal and power stocks resulted in the benchmark Sensex falling 334 points on Monday as FII outflows dampened investor sentiment.
Traders said that apart from this, a sharp fall in the rupee against the US dollar also put pressure on the domestic equities.
After falling nearly 500 points, the 30-share BSE index ended 334.98 points, or 0.55%, lower at 60,506.90. During the session, the index touched its day’s low of 60,345.61.
The broader NSE Nifty declined 89.45 points, or 0.50%, to close at 17,764.60 as 34 stocks declined.
Tata Steel was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, falling 2.08%, 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.
Shares of Adani Group, except Adani Ports, continued to decline on weak investor sentiment following allegations made by US-based activist short-seller Hindenburg Research.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd gained 9.46% after the group said promoters would pre-pay $1,114 million for release of pledged shares of their firms before maturity in September 2024.
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap gauge rose 0.75% and the Smallcap index rose 0.49%.
Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the red, while Tokyo and Seoul closed higher.
Equity exchanges in Europe were trading lower in mid-session deals.
Markets in the US closed in the negative zone on Friday.
International oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.09% to $80.01 a barrel.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 932.44 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.