Sensex falls 483 points, Nifty ends below 17,700-mark weighed by IT, financial stocks

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 482.61 points (0.81 per cent) to settle at 58,964.57 while the Nifty 50 ended at 17,674.95, down 109.40 points (0.62 per cent). Both the indices had opened on a negative note earlier in the day and traded in the red throughout the session.

On the Sensex pack, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Infosys, Wipro, Asian Paints, Hosuing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories were the top laggards on Monday while ICICI Bank, NTPC, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), UltraTech Cement, Nestle India and Maruti Suzuki India were the top gainers.

The broader market indices however outperformed their benchmark peers and ended higher on Monday. The S&P BSE MidCap index rose 103.76 points (0.41 per cent) to end at 25,407.15. JSW Energy, Oberoi Realty, Crisil and Adani Power were the top gainers among the midcaps. Likewise, the S&P BSE SmallCap too climbed 114.28 points (0.38 per cent) to settle at 29,880.07.

“The market is wary ahead of the ECB meeting, the release of US inflation data, and the start of the domestic Q4 result season. Indian IT sector dragged due to weak result expectations on a QoQ basis. In this shortened week, the market is cautious as trading at the upper side of the trend and momentum has shifted from broad to stock-specific,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Global market

Global stock markets and Wall Street futures sank Monday after the Federal Reserve it might raise interest rates more aggressively indicated to cool US inflation and President Emmanuel Macron emerged from the first round of France’s election facing a challenge from the far right.

London and Frankfurt opened lower. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong retreat. Oil fell more than USD 2 per barrel on concern global economic growth might weaken.

-global market input from AP