Mumbai, Weak global cues subdued key Indian equity indices on Monday with heavy selling pressure in metal, capital goods and oil and gas stocks.
According to analysts, depreciation in the Indian rupee and outflow of foreign funds also eroded the investor sentiment.
The indices, however, bounced back in the last hour of trade and pared major losses made early in the day.
The barometer BSE Sensex, which had opened at 35,545.22 points, revived from a decline of around 300 points to end lower by 159.07 points or 0.45 per cent at 35,264.41 points.
It touched a high of 35,578.24 points and a low of 35,106.57 during the intra-day trade. The BSE market breadth was bearish with 1,691 declines and 914 advances.
The broader Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 10,657.30 points — down by 57 points or 0.53 per cent from its previous close of 10,714.30 points.
“Markets began the week on a negative note as the Nifty ended in the red. A bounce back in the afternoon session helped to erase some of the losses seen in the morning session,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities.
The weakness came on the back of weak global cues, Jasani told IANS, adding that European shares traded lower as on-going worries about the US trade policies and concerns about German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition weighed on sentiments.
Abhijeet Dey, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund’s Senior Fund Manager for Equities, said: “Stock markets in India started the week on a volatile note and mostly traded under pressure, despite positive macro-economic updates.”
“On the macro-economic front, the country’s manufacturing conditions improved in June, supported by the sharp gains in output and new orders,” he said, adding, “however, negative global cues and cautious investor sentiment pushed markets lower to trade in the red”.
On the currency front, the rupee ended at 68.80 per dollar, 33 paise weaker than its previous close of 68.47 per greenback.
Investment-wise, provisional data with exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrip worth Rs 1,205.12 crore while the domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 366.94 crore.
Sector-wise, the gainers were the S&P BSE IT index, the consumer durables index and the Teck (technology, media and entertainment) index, which rose by 122.97 points, 106.77 points and 30.05 points respectively.
On the other hand, the S&P BSE metal index lost the most, by 235.08 points, followed by the capital goods and oil and gas indices, which fell by 135.71 points and 109.78 points respectively.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints, up 2.29 per cent at Rs 1,293; Infosys, up 2.12 per cent at Rs 1,334.45; Vedanta, up 1.25 per cent at Rs 238.70; Bajaj Auto, up 1 per cent at Rs 2,839.15; and ICICI Bank, up 0.71 per cent at Rs 277.45 per share.
The top losers were NTPC, down 3.67 per cent at Rs 153.60; Bharti Airtel, down 3.64 per cent at Rs 367.15; Adani Ports, down 2.37 per cent at Rs 363.20; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.68 per cent at Rs 3,413.60; and HDFC Bank, down 1.65 per cent at Rs 2,073.20 per share.
