The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 57,166.74, down 1,172.19 points (2.01 per cent), while the Nifty 50 settled at 17,173.65, down 302.00 points (1.73 per cent).
The benchmark equity indices on the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended lower for the fourth consecutive session settling around 2 per cent lower on Monday weighed by information technology (IT) and financial stocks amid a weak trend in Asian markets.
The S&P BSE Sensex fell 1,172.19 points (2.01 per cent) to end at 57,166.74 while the Nifty 50 slipped 302.00 points (1.73 per cent) to settle at 17,173.65. Both the indices had opened over 1.5 per cent earlier in the day and crashed as much as 2.57 per cent with the BSE benchmark hitting a low of 56,842.39 and the broader Nifty touching 17,067.85.
On the Sensex pack, Infosys was the top loser of the day falling over 7 per cent. It was followed by HDFC twins – Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) and HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). On the other hand, NTPC, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki India, Titan Company, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Mahindra & Mahindra were the top gainers on Monday.
The broader market indices comparatively fared better than their benchmark peers. The S&P BSE MidCap index settled at 24,747.35, down 237.90 points (0.95 per cent) while the S&P BSE SmallCap ended at 29,223.81, down 297.79 points (1.01 per cent).
“Unfavourable start to earnings season in heavyweight stocks of IT and banking sector led to heavy sell-off. Lower-than-expected results prompted the market to worry about the headwinds faced by IT sector like attrition, wage inflation, lower utilization, and cut in IT spending by industries due to geopolitical and macro issue. The degree of downfall is high because the sector was trading at high valuation and risk of a downgrade in outlook has increased,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Global market
Shares were mostly lower in Asia and US futures fell after China reported Monday that its economy expanded at a 4.8 per cent annual pace in January-March.
Benchmarks fell in Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei and Shanghai. Seoul edged higher. Markets in Europe and in Hong Kong and Sydney were closed for holidays.
Wall Street benchmarks declined last week before closing for the Easter holiday.