By IANS,
Mumbai: A benchmark index for Indian equities Monday slipped further amid heavy selling in the last session of trade to close 129 points lower.
Heavyweights State Bank of India and Maruti Suzuki dragged the index down.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,056.24 points, closed at 18,020.05 points, 110.93 points or 0.61 percent down from its previous close at 18,130.98 points.
At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty ended at 5,418.6 points, down 0.56 percent from its previous close at 5,449.1 points.
Broader markets indices also closed in the red, with the BSE midcap index ending 0.96 percent lower and the BSE smallcap index 0.81 percent down.
Auto, realty and banking stocks saw bulk of the selling while telecom and IT stocks gained.
The market breadth was negative, with 1,090 scrips advancing, compared to 1,824 stocks declining, and 94 remaining unchanged.
Among the gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel, up 2.12 percent at Rs.320.35; TCS, up 0.96 percent at Rs.846.55; Infosys, up 0.74 percent at Rs.2,802.50; and HDFC Bank, up 0.64 percent at Rs.2,052.10.
The biggest loser in Monday’s trade was Maruti Suzuki, which lost 12.31 percent to close at Rs.128.60 over poor quarterly earnings results. Maruti last week reported a 20.25 percent drop in net profit.
Other losers included: Hero Honda, down 7.46 percent at Rs.1,811.85; Jaiprakash Associates, down 5.75 percent at Rs.121.20; and SBI, down 3.44 percent at Rs.2,408.85.
Other major Asian markets were trading in the positive as most European banks passed a “stress test” and on robust corporate earnings results in the US.
The Japanese Nikkei closed 0.77 percent higher at 9,503.669 points, while the South Korean Kospi ended with a 0.63 percent gain at 1,769.07 points.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed flat at 20,839.91 points, while the Chinese Shanghai Composite index was shut shop 0.65 percent higher at 2,588.68 points.
European markets were mixed with pharma stocks ruling lower amid reports of leading drug maker GlaxoSmithKline sending feelers to Genzyme Corp on a proposed takeover. Banking stocks were however in the green after better than expected results from the Euro zone bank “stress tests”.
The FTSE was flat at 5,311.32 points, while the French CAC 40 was also similarly unchanged at 3,608.51 points, up 0.04 percent.
The German DAX was ruling 0.17 percent lower at 6,155.74 points.
Traders now await the Reserve Bank of India’s decision on hiking key policy and interest rates at its quarter review of the monetary policy Tuesday.
Most analysts expect a 25 basis point increase in an attempt to curb surging headline inflation at 10.55 percent.