The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Monday, ended their winning run after opening in red and spent the trading day trying to narrow the losses. The S&P BSE Sensex opened over 200 points lower to Friday’s close. The index closed trading even lower at a loss of 241 points and stood at 67,596.84. On the other hand, the Nifty50 settled almost 60 points lower at 20,133.30.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Power Grid Corporation, Titan, M&M, and NTPC emerged as major gainers. On the downside, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, and Infosys were among the losers.
In the broader markets, all indices closed in red. The Nifty Smallcap 100 and Midcap 100 indices declined 0.54 per cent and 0.42 per cent, respectively.
Sectorwise, the Nifty PSU Bank emerged as the biggest gainer with an increase of over 3 per cent, while the Auto index advanced 0.84 per cent, and FMCG inched up by 0.58 per cent.
In the previous session on Friday, the S&P BSE Sensex ended at a record 67,838.63, while the NSE Nifty50 settled at an all-time high of 20,192.35.
Meanwhile, the rupee fell 13 paise to settle at 83.29 against the US dollar on Monday, amidst a risk aversion in global markets and surging crude prices. Additionally, a downward trend in domestic equities and the strong American currency weighed on investor sentiments, stated forex traders. The domestic unit opened at 83.09 against the dollar and traded in the day in the range of 83.09 to 83.30 against the dollar. It finally closed at a record low of 83.29 against the dollar, registering a fall of 13 paise from its previous close. The domestic unit opened at 83.09 against the US currency in early trade on Monday. On Friday, the rupee closed at 83.15 against the US dollar.
The market remains keen for the US Fed meeting on Tuesday. Arvinder Singh Nanda, senior vice president at Master Capital Services Ltd., said, “Investors would also focus on the movement of the global oil benchmark Brent crude and the rupee. In the coming days market may react to some major macroeconomic data such as US S&P Global manufacturing and services PMI, initial jobless claims, crude oil inventories, FOMC statement, Fed interest rate decision, UK inflation, Eurozone inflation.”
Domestic equity markets will stay closed on Tuesday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi.