Mumbai: Equity benchmark BSE Sensex declined by 141 points after a volatile session on Monday, dragged down by losses in index heavyweights ITC, TCS, L&T, HDFC twins and Infosys amid weak global cues.
After swinging 439 points during the day, the 30-share Sensex ended 141.33 points, or 0.38 per cent, lower at 37,531.98. It hit an intra-day low of 37,480.53 and a high of 37,919.47.
The broader NSE Nifty dropped 48.35 points, or 0.43 per cent, to close at 11,126.40.
Top laggards in the Sensex pack included ONGC, ITC, Tata Steel, M&M, Tata Motors, L&T, TCS, Sun Pharma, NTPC, IndusInd Bank and Tech Mahindra, falling up to 2.97 per cent.
Bucking the trend, shares of Yes Bank rallied over 8 per cent on Monday on prospects of fresh investments in the company.
Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp and Bajaj Finance also rose up to 2.53 per cent.
According to experts, market has been witnessing profit-booking post the recent rally on account of corporate tax cut. The cut in repo rate by the Reserve Bank of India also did not inspire confidence in investors, given the sharp downgrade in economic growth forecast.
“Market traded range-bound as investors are expecting the downward revision in GDP estimate to mirror in second-quarter earnings as well. The core auto, banks and infra are already in subdued condition due to weak demand while stock-specific buying was seen in few blue chips in the light of good monsoon and advantages of tax cut. Defensive bet Pharma declined due to increasing US FDA observations while IT slid ahead of kick start in second-quarter earnings,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services
Weak cues from other Asian and European equities too weighed on investor sentiment, they said.
Elsewhere in Asia, Kospi settled marginally higher, while Nikkei closed in the red. Markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong were closed for a holiday.
Equities in Europe were trading lower in early sessions.
Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated by 18 paise to 71.07 against the US dollar intra-day.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 0.41 per cent to USD 58.61 per barrel.
