Sensex Falls Over 200 Points, Nifty Trades Below 16,700; RIL Falls Over 3%

Indian equity benchmarks on Monday traded lower in opening deals, snapping their six-day winning run. Asian stocks declined, retreating from over three-week highs as worries about a global economic downturn sapped investors’ risk appetite.

Trends on the Nifty Futures on Singapore Exchange (SGX Nifty) indicated a cautious start for the domestic indices.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 226 points or 0.40 per cent to 55,846 in the early session, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 57 points or 0.34 per cent lower to trade at 16,663.

Mid- and small-cap shares were slightly positive as Nifty Midcap 100 edged 0.08 per cent higher and small-cap rose 0.09 per cent.

Seven out of the 15 sector gauges — compiled by the National Stock Exchange — were trading in the red. Sub-indexes Nifty Oil & Gas and Nifty Pharma were underperforming the NSE platform by falling as much as 1.43 per cent and 0.41 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Reliance Industries was the top Nifty loser as the stock cracked 3.20 per cent to ₹ 2,423.05. ONGC, UltraTech Cement, Grasim and Shree Cement were also among the laggards.

The overall market breadth was slightly positive as 1,364 shares were advancing while 1,252 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, Reliance, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma, Nestle India, HDFC, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, PowerGrid, M&M, Asian Paints, ITC, Hindustan Unilever and Dr Reddy’s were among the top losers.

Also, shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country’s biggest insurer and largest domestic financial investor, fell 0.03 per cent to trade at ₹ 688.75.

In contrast, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Airtel were trading in the green.

Sensex had surged 390 points or 0.70 per cent to close at 56,072 on Friday, while Nifty had moved 114 points or 0.69 per cent higher to settle at 16,719.