Agencies
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty slid for a seventh straight session on Monday, logging their longest losing run in the past five months, following a bearish trend in global markets amid concerns over aggressive rate hikes by developed economies.
Fresh foreign fund outflows and losses in IT, auto and oil stocks also dented investor sentiments.
The BSE Sensex declined by 175.58 points or 0.30 per cent to close at 59,288.35 with 17 of its shares posting losses.
During the day, it tanked 526.29 points or 0.88 per cent to 58,937.64.
The NSE Nifty fell 73.10 points or 0.42 per cent to end at 17,392.70 as 33 of its stocks ended in the red.
Sensex and Nifty fell for a seventh straight session, matching the seven-session losing run in the last week of September last year.
In the seven sessions, Sensex tanked 2,031 points or 3.4 per cent while Nifty shed 643 points or 4.1 per cent to close below the 17,400 level.
From the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, Wipro and Bajaj Finance were the biggest laggards.
Power Grid, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India were among the gainers.
“Bears continued to wreak havoc in the domestic market as the latest data releases from the US heightened the existing worries of aggressive rate hikes.
“The personal consumption expenditure in the US, which is Fed's key monitorable of inflation, increased in January, pressuring investors to stay away from equities markets,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
In Asian markets, South Korea, Japan, China and Hong Kong ended lower. Equity markets in Europe were trading in the green. The US markets had ended sharply down on Friday. International oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.35 per cent to $83.41 per barrel.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 1,470.34 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Foreign investors have turned cautious and pulled out Rs 2,313 crore from Indian equities so far this month.
