Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Monday halted their six-day winning streak to settle lower, dragged by energy, automobile, and pharma stocks.
The S&P BSE Sensex, which hit a low of 55,537, ended at 55,766, down 306 points (0.55 per cent), while the Nifty50 closed at 16,631, down 88 points (0.53 per cent). The index hit a low of 16,564 intra-day.
On the BSE, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Coal India, Apollo Hospitals, UPL, Hindalco, HCL Tech, and Wipro advanced between 1 per cent and 3 per cent. On the flipside, M&M, RIL, ONGC, Maruti Suzuki, Kotak Bank, Eicher Motors, and SBI Life slipped in the range of 1.5 per cent to 4 per cent. Reliance declined 3.31 per cent after the company’s June quarter earnings failed to cheer investors.
In the broader markets, Midcap and Smallcap shares finished on a weak note as Nifty Midcap 100 edged 0.09 per cent lower and Smallcap shed 0.58 per cent.
The overall market breadth stood negative as 1,514 shares advanced, while 1,909 declined on the BSE.
“Bulls finally lost steam after surging ahead for the last six consecutive sessions as investors booked profit in automobile, oil & gas, and telecom stocks, even though gains in metals and select capital goods stocks capped losses. Investors traded with caution ahead of the Federal Reserve meet on Wednesday,” Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd, said.
Among specific stocks, shares of online food aggregator Zomato declined 11.37 per cent to Rs 47.55 apiece as a one-year lock-in period for promoters, employees, and other investors came to an end following a 2021 listing.
“RIL’s results, though impressive on the telecom and retail front, fell slightly below expectations in the refining space,” said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
In the previous session on Friday, the Sensex jumped 390 points (0.70 per cent) to settle at 56,072, while the Nifty climbed 114 points (0.69 per cent) to 16,719.45.
In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong ended lower, while Seoul settled in the green. In Europe, markets were trading in the green during mid-session deals. The US markets had ended on a lower note on Friday.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.24 per cent to $104.52 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 675.45 crore on Friday, as per exchange data.