Mumbai: After giving up all of its gains in last half hour, the benchmark BSE Sensex Monday ended the day lower by 135 points -- its biggest single-day fall in two weeks -- as fears took hold that key reforms bills, including GST, may not be passed in the Monsoon Session.
The fall was mainly due to late sell-off by participants, which wiped out whatever gains the benchmark had notched up earlier in the day
"Last half hour of selling pressure drags indices lower shedding day's gains. Logjam in the Parliament continues and GST bill seems unlikely to be cleared in this monsoon session," said Gaurav Jain, Director at Hem Securities.
Weak rupee and sell-off by foreign investors too hit the sentiment, he added.
Investors got the jitters on concerns that governments' reforms process will get delayed as key GST and Land Bills may spill over to the next session as Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha stood adjourned for yet another day amid continued Opposition protest, brokers said.
The gauge opened on a higher note at 28,250.78 and stayed in the positive zone for most part to touch the day's high of 28,417.59 on the back of value-buying in several blue-chips amid optimism that easing global crude oil prices will cut country's import bill.
Meanwhile, Brent crude for delivery in September fell 36 cents to USD 48.25 per barrel.
However, fag-end selling by investors as well as funds, ate into the gains and took the benchmark back to the negative territory, which hit a low of 28,017.85 before settling at 28,101.72 points, a fall of 134.67 points, or 0.48 percent, marking it as the biggest single session fall since July 27.
The benchmark Sensex swung almost 400 points during the day. The index had lost 61.74 points in Friday's session.
The 50-share Nifty, after reclaiming the 8,600-mark, touched the session's high of 8,621.55 intra-day, before settling lower by 39 points, or 0.46 percent, at 8,525.60.
A mixed close at other Asian markets and a lower opening in Europe influenced sentiment, brokers added. The Shanghai Composite ended the day higher.
China's Shanghai Composite jumped by 4.92 percent and indices in Taiwan and Japan also rose by 0.29 percent to 0.41 percent, while those in South Korea and Hong Kong fell by 0.13 percent to 0.35 percent.
Markets in Singapore remained closed for a holiday.
European stocks were trading lower in their afternoon trade.
Key indices in France and the UK were down by 0.01 percent to 0.79 percent, while Germany's DAX was quoted higher by 0.10 percent.
In the domestic market, 20 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended lower while.
Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO said: "Market sentiments improved mainly due to the strong US jobs data along with gains in financials have capped the downside."
ONGC was the top loser from the Sensex pack, tumbling by 2.55 percent.
Others losers included M&M 1.96 percent, NTPC 1.91 percent, Tata Motors 1.71 percent, Coal India 1.59 percent, Hindalco 1.55 percent, RIL 1.44 percent, Vedanta 1.31 percent, Infosys 1.25 percent and ITC 1.23 percent.
However, BHEL firmed up by 2.01 percent, followed by Hero MotoCorp 1.67 percent, Maruti Suzuki 1.03 percent and GAIL 0.79 percent.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, metal fell by 1.04 percent, followed by oil&gag 0.94 percent, consumer durables 0.92 percent, FMCG 0.66 percent, consumer goods 0.65 percent and power 0.63 percent.
The market breadth remained negative as 1,529 stocks ended in red, 1,424 stocks closed in green, while 115 ruled steady.
Total turnover fell to Rs 3,104.69 crore from Rs 3,444.32 crore on Friday.
