Mumbai: Extending losses for the second day, equity benchmarks closed at one-week lows with the Sensex ending below the 26,000 mark and the Nifty ending at 7,748.70 as investors booked profits in recent out-performers in sectors including realty, metals, oil & gas.
The BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty were seen trading with negative bias ahead of Tuesday's trading holiday and July F&O expiry on Thursday. Market breadth was largely negative. Small-cap and mid-cap indices fell due to persistent selling pressure from retail investors.
The 30-share index Sensex resumed higher at 26,173.47 hovered in a range of 26,181.83 and 25,900.25 before ending at 25,991.23, showing a loss of 135.52 points or 0.52 percent from Friday's closing. It has now dropped 280.62 points, or 1.07 percent, in two consecutive sessions.
Monday's closing is its weakest since July 21 (25,715.17).
The CNX 50-share Nifty dropped by 41.75 points, or 0.54 percent, to close at one-week low of 7,748.70. On Friday, it had slipped by over 40 points.
In eight straight trading sessions (July 15-24), the Sensex and the Nifty spurted by over 5 percent to hit lifetime highs.
Stocks of FMCG major Hindustan Unilever gained 3.69 percent after the company today reported increase in standalone net profit at Rs 1,056.85 crore for the June quarter.
Among major losers, Coal India suffered the most by plunging over 3 percent, the most in three weeks. Other laggards include Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel, RIL, ICICI Bank, SBI, Hero MotoCorp, M&M and Bajaj Auto.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 125.51 crore on last Friday, as per provisional data.
In Asia, Chinese stocks led gains by jumping over 2 percent on strong growth in profit at industrial companies in June 2014. Key indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea ended higher by 0.20 percent to 2.41 percent while Taiwan weighted index declined by 0.20 percent.
European markets were trading mixed in their early trade as investors weighed company earnings and awaited data on American services and home sales. Key indices and France and UK firmed up by 0.15 percent to 0.48 percent while Germany's DAX was quoting lower by 0.03 percent.
Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services said: "Indian local indices lost their way and traded weak as the day progressed. Profit booking continued as investors preferred to stay cautious at higher levels."
Twenty one scrips ended lower out of the 30-share Sensex pack while only nine finished higher.
Major losers were Coal India 3.14 percent, Hindalco 2.06 percent, Tata Motors 1.89 percent, Tata Steel 1.72 percent, ICICI Bank 1.65 percent, Hero Motocorp 1.62 percent, Reliance Ind 1.61 percent, ONGC 1.41 percent, M&M 1.28 percent and Cipla 1.17 percent.
However, HUL rose by 3.69 percent, Sun Pharma 1.33 percent and BHEL 1.17 percent.
Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, Realty fell by 2.69 percent followed by Metal 1.51 percent, Refinery 1.29 percent, Auto 0.78 percent, Bankex 0.69 percent and Capital Goods 0.66 percent.
Persistent selling in two-tier stocks by retail investors saw about 1,665 shares declining, 1,189 stocks rising while 115 stocks ruled steady.
Total turnover fell to Rs 2,462.88 crore from Rs 3,577.35 crore on last Friday.
