By IANS
Mumbai : Indian equity markets Monday continued their downward inclination mirroring the weak global cues and ended the day in red.
The markets started with a sharp fall and continued the downward trend, which witnessed heavy selling across key sectors in the early trade.
However, there was a smart recovery, led by PSU bank, metal, oil stocks towards the end of the day.
The 30-share benchmark of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index (Sensex) opened at 15,684.24 points and notched a high of 15,998.33 before closing at 15,923.72 points. It went down by 51.80 points at the day’s close or 0.32 percent.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P Nifty, which opened at 4767.80 points, closed at 4800.40 points, after touching the day’s high of 4814.95 points. At the day’s close, it notched a marginal gain of 22.08 points or 0.60 percent.
The BSE Midcap index closed at 6,767.92 points, down by 36.47 points or 0.54 percent.
Similarly, the BSE Smallcap index closed at 8,248.73 points, down by 160.45 points or 1.91 percent.
On BSE, the market breadth was negative with low trading volumes, which saw 757 shares advancing, 1906 declining and 44 maintaining status quo.
Cues from the global markets were weak. All Asian markets like Taiwan, Nikkei and KOSPI ended the day in red while the NASDAQ and Dow Jones also closed in the red in US markets.
The top gainers of the day included Tata Steel at Rs.813.00, up 5.23 percent, Bharti Airtel at Rs.790.00, up 5.15 percent, ACC cement at Rs.770.00 up 4.78 percent and Bajaj Auto at Rs.1976.00 up 4.78 percent.
The top losers were Larsen and Toubro at Rs.2721.30 down by 8.93 percent, BHEL at Rs.1921.30 down by 5.16 percent, Maruti Suzuki at Rs.896.00, down by 3.98 percent and Reliance Energy at Rs.1229.25, down by 3.21 percent.