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The 30-share Sensex closed down 630 points at 26,877 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 198 points at 8,127.
B enchmark indices snapped the gaining streak witnessed during the last two sessions dragged primarily by the heavy selling pressure seen on metals, fincancials and capital goods stocks as traders exercised caution ahead of the release of IIP and CPI data and global cues turned weak on concerns over lack of a clear progress in the talks between Greece and its creditors.
Further delays in the passage of land acquisition and GST bill and intra-day depreciation in rupee by nearly 41 paise to 64.26 against US Dollar also weighed on the sentiments.
The contentious Land Acquisition Bill will be referred to a 30-member joint committee both Houses of the Parliament while the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill will be referred to a select committee of the Rajya Sabha.
Giving further credence to India Meteorological Department's early forecast in April of a sub-par southwest monsoon season, Australian Meteorological Department said today that the El Nino weather phenomenon has started to take shape in the tropical pacific which is likely to result in deficient rainfall in the monsoon season.
The 30-share Sensex closed down 630 points at 26,877 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 198 points at 8,127.
In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices, down nearly 1.7% performed better than the front-liners. Market breadth in BSE ended negative with 1,944 declines against 761 advances.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in Indian equities worth Rs 170 crore on Monday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
Buzzing Stocks
All the 12 sectoral indices of BSE ended lower. BSE Bankex, Capital Goods, Power and Realty indices ending down over 3% emerged as the biggest losers followed by BSE Metal and Oil & Gas indices down 2.9% and 2.5% each.
Among the few gaining stocks, Dr Reddys Lab moved higher over 3%.
Dr Reddys Lab posted a net profit after taxes of Rs 518.84 crore in the quarter ending March 31, 2014 that is nearly 8% higher to the Rs 481.60 net profit reported in the same quarter last fiscal.
Hero Motocorp gained over 3% despite the selling pressure weighing on other auto stocks as M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors declined between 1.7% and 2.9%.
Financials led the decline in today’s session with ICICI Bank losing over 4%, mortgage lender HDFC shedding nearly 3%, HDFC Bank, falling nearly 2% Axis Bank and public-sector lender SBI falling over 3% each. L&T declined nearly 4%.
According to media reports, L&T has signed a technology transfer agreement with South Korea based Hyundai Heavy Industries to build LNG carriers.
BHEL has declined over 4%. After yesterday’s gains, metal stocks were under severe pressure today mainly on account of profit-booking.
Tata Steel and Vedanta shed 6.4% and 5.2% each and Hindalco ended lower by 3.3%.
IT stocks declined too. Infosys, Wipro and TCS ended lower by 1.3% to nearly 2.4% each. Volatility in crude oil prices which slumped further today on supply glut and concerns over Greece negotiations led to weakness in shares like RIL and ONGC, down 2.8% and 3.2% respectively.
Global Markets
Absence of a significant breakthrough in the talks between Greece and its creditors led to risk-aversion among traders and Asian stocks ended the day largely on a weak note.
Japanese shares ended on a flat note while Hang Seng index declined over 1%.
Shanghai Composite index, however, managed to post gains of 1.5%. Concerns over Greece have brought significant losses to European markets.
Major European indices like FTSE 100, CAC 40 and DAX have shed nearly 2% each.
