Sensex falls 144 points, Nifty by 63 after sell-off in auto, capital goods and metal stocks
However, share prices of a number of banks surged on the back of investor hopes that the Essar Group would deleverage following its deal with Russia's Rosneft.
Indian stocks ended lower on Monday, with the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex falling by 143.63 points to close at 27,529.97 and the National Stock Exchange Nifty ending 63 points down at 8,520.40. The drop in the markets came after a sell-off in the stocks of auto, capital goods and metal firms, NDTV reported.
Companies such as Zee Entertainment, Idea Cellular and Eicher Motors were among those that under-performed during trading. While the BSE small-cap index fell by 0.52%, the mid-cap index closed 0.52% lower. However, banking stocks such as those of ICICI Bank and the State Bank of India surged on the back of investor hopes that the Essar Group would deleverage following Essar Oil's deal with Russian firm Rosneft. While shares of ICICI Bank ended 7.20% higher at Rs 259.15, SBI's ended 0.36% higher at Rs 253.
Analysts said the overall performance by markets was because of weak global cues as well as investors trading cautiously following second-quarter earnings reports from Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, according to Business Standard. Chief Market Strategist of Geojit BNP Paribas Anand James said investors were now looking forward to the publication of the minutes of the Reserve Bank of India's policy meeting, "especially in the backdrop of [the] fuel price hike".