Equity markets witnessed a decline in a volatile trading session on Monday, with the Sensex and Nifty closing lower primarily due to intense selling pressure in market heavyweights HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries amidst continuous foreign fund outflows.
The BSE benchmark index, Sensex, fell by 0.15 percent or 112.16 points to settle at 73,085.94, marking a second consecutive day of losses. The index fluctuated during the session, reaching a high of 73,649.72 and a low of 72,784.54.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty also experienced a dip, shedding 5.40 points or 0.02 percent to end at 22,119.30. At one point in the session, it tumbled by 120 points or 0.54 percent to touch 22,004.70.
Major laggards from the Sensex pack included Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports, Maruti Suzuki India, Axis Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and Asian Paints. On the other hand, UltraTech Cement, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, and State Bank of India were among the gainers.
In the Asian markets, Tokyo and Hong Kong closed in the green, while Shanghai ended in the red. Seoul markets remained closed due to a holiday. European markets were trading positively in mid-session deals, following the positive close in the US markets on Friday.
Furthermore, global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped by 0.58 percent to USD 72.39 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued to offload equities worth Rs 11,639.02 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
On Friday, both the BSE index and NSE Nifty had witnessed significant losses, with the BSE index falling by 1,414.33 points to settle at 73,198.10 and the NSE Nifty slumping by 420.35 points to close at 22,124.70.
