Sensex ends in red amid sell-off in auto, commodity stocks

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty stayed on the back foot for the second straight session on Monday as investors offloaded auto, utility and commodity stocks amid fresh foreign fund outflows.

In a volatile trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 139.58 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 65,655.15.

During the day, it fell 246.93 points or 0.37 per cent to 65,547.80.

The Nifty slipped 37.80 points or 0.19 per cent to 19,694.

Among the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Motors and JSW Steel were the major laggards.

Bharti Airtel, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Maruti were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the green, while Tokyo ended lower.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.74 per cent to $81.21 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 477.76 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.