Stock Market: Sensex Sheds 171 Points, Nifty Holds 18,300 Amid Volatility. LIC Gains 6 Per Cent

Stock update: Dr Reddy's, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, SBI, ICICI Bank, Nestle, Titan, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, and Reliance Industries were among the biggest losers on the BSE

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, ended lower on Monday in a volatuile trade, dragged down by index heavyweights ICICI Bank, ITC, and Reliance Industries amid largely weak Asian markets.

The BSE Sensex declined 171 points (0.28 per cent) to settle at 61,624. During the day, it hit a low of 61,572 and a high of 61,916. On the other hand, the broader NSE Nifty dipped 21 points (0.11 per cent) to finish at 18,329.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, Dr Reddy's, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Nestle, Titan, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, and Reliance Industries were among the biggest losers. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Steel, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, and Maruti were the major winners.

Among individual stocks, LIC rallied 6 per cent after the company posted 11 times higher profit in Q2 over the last year.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap index ended almost unmoved, while the Smallcap index added 0.2 per cent.

Sectorwise, the BSE FMCG index shed 1.3 per cent. The Power index was the other notable loser. Whereas, the Realty index gained a per cent, and the IT index moved 0.7 per cent higher.

The overall market breadth was marginally negative, with nearly 1,900 declining stocks versus 1,700 advancing shares on the BSE.

The wholesale price-based inflation declined to a 19-month low of 8.39 per cent in October, on easing prices of fuel and manufactured items.

In the previous session on Friday, the BSE benchmark had zoomed 1,181 points (1.95 per cent) to settle at 61,795, while the Nifty rallied 321 points (1.78 per cent) to finish at 18,349.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai ended lower, while Hong Kong settled higher. Equity exchanges in Europe were trading in the positive territory in the afternoon session. Wall Street had ended higher on Friday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.16 per cent lower at $95.84 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Friday as they bought shares worth Rs 3,958.23 crore, as per exchange data.