New Delhi: The key domestic indices, Sensex and Nifty which started trading lower amid selling pressures across all sectors on Monday in line with their global peers, eventually settled in the red amid volatility.
This is the fourth straight session loss by the Indian indices, as investors turned cautious due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict that continued to dampen risk sentiment.
The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 149 points lower at 57,683, while the NSE Nifty closed at 17,206, down 69 points.
Wipro, Infosys, PowerGrid, Shree Cement, Nestle India, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank were the top large-cap gainers, up between 0.7 per cent and 1.7 per cent. On the flipside, Hindalco, UPL, Sun Pharma, Adani Ports, Divis Labs, and TCS were the top drags, down up to 3.45 per cent.
In the broader markets, the BSE Smallcap index underperformed the benchmarks as it fell 2.2 per cent. The BSE Midcap index, on the other hand, was down 0.8 per cent.
Sectorally, the Nifty Media and Metal indices fell 2.7 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively, followed by the Nifty Pharma and PSB indices, down 1.4 per cent each. The Nifty Private Bank index, on the other hand, was the top gainer, up 0.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, domestic stock markets could face volatile trading sessions this week and would be guided by global cues, movement of the rupee and crude oil prices, according to experts.
In the previous session, the BSE Sensex declined 59 points to close at 57,833, while the NSE Nifty slipped 28 points to 17,276.
On the other hand, Asian stock markets pared sharp early losses as a glimmer of hope emerged for a diplomatic solution to the Russian-Ukraine conflict.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan pared their losses to be down 0.4 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei halved its drop to be down 0.9 per cent. Also, troubling markets has been the prospect of an aggressive tightening by the US Federal Reserve as inflation runs rampant.
Crude oil benchmark Brent Futures dropped 0.30 per cent to trade at $93.33 per barrel.