Mumbai: Logging their worst drop in 8 weeks, benchmark Sensex plunged 339 points and Nifty slipped 100 points Monday on sharp losses in Infosys, where co-founders sold about USD 1 billion worth shares, and other bluechips.
Shares of heavyweight Infosys fell by 4.88 percent as families of four co-founders sold shares worth Rs 6,484 crore in the country's second largest software services firm. Its peers TCS and Wipro also witnessed selling pressure.
Private sector lenders HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank lost about one and half percent each. Metals pack, including Sesa Sterlite, Hindalco and Tata Steel, slipped 2-3.6 percent on reports of weak trade data of China, the world's biggest consumer of industrial metals.
Domestic market was also affected by concerns over slowing foreign capital inflows as strong US growth may prompt the US Federal reserve to speed up rate hikes, traders said.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 109.45 crore last Friday, as per provisional data.
The 30-share index Sensex resumed lower at 28,433.00 and hovered in a range of 28,494.85 and 28,097.12 before ending at 28,119.40, showing a loss of 338.07 points or 1.19 percent. This its biggest single-session loss since October 16 when it had dropped 349.99 points or 1.33 percent.
Similarly, NSE 50-share Nifty fell 100.05 points, or 1.17 percent, to finish below key 8,500-mark at 8,438.25. This is also its sharpest fall since 115.8-point drop on October 16.
"The decline was led by the IT counters as sentiments got a hit after some of the founders of IT major Infosys decided to sell USD 1.1 billion shares. Further, profit booking in capital goods, consumer durables and banking stocks also pushed the benchmark in red," said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities.
Asian stocks ended mixed amid disappointing data from Japan and China. Key benchmark indices in Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea dropped by 0.21 percent to 0.80 percent while indices in Japan, China and Hong Kong rose by 0.21 percent to 2.81 percent.
European markets were trading lower as indices in France, Germany and UK declined by 0.44 percent to 0.63 percent.
Turning back to the domestic market, 23 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex pack ended lower while 7 finished higher.
Other major losers were Sesa Sterlite(3.60 percent), M&M (3.32 percent), Hindalco (2.51 percent), TCS (2.51 percent), Dr Reddy's Lab (2.35 percent), Tata Steel (2.01 percent), BHEL (1.88 percent) and L&T (1.72 percent).
Tata Motors (1.71 percent), Wipro (1.62 percent), HDFC Bank (1.61 percent), SBI (1.39 percent), ICICI Bank (1.34 percent) and RIL (1.34 percent) also logged moderate losses.
However, Coal India rose by 2.20 percent, followed by ITC 1.63 percent, Sun Pharma 0.91 percent, ONGC 0.63 percent and Cipla 0.61 percent.
Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, IT tumbled by 3.18 percent followed by Teck 2.58 percent, Realty 1.80 percent, Capital Goods 1.72 percent, Consumer Durable 1.41 percent, Auto 1.36 percent, Power 1.34 percent, Metal 1.31 percent and Bankex 1.23 percent.
Small-cap and Mid-cap indices also fell by 0.87 percent and 1.22 percent respectively due to selling pressure from retail investors.
Overall market breadth was negative as 1,797 counters finished in the red while 1,151 ended in green while 115 held steady. Total turnover fell to Rs 3,165.91 crore today from Rs 3,623.11 crore last Friday.
