Markets drift lower on weak global cues

Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex declined around 251 points on Monday, pressured by heavy selling in IT, bank and finance stocks amid a mixed trend overseas. A depreciating rupee further weighed on sentiment, traders said. Sliding for the second straight session, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 250.86 points or 0.41 per cent lower at 60,431.84. During the session, the index touched a high of 60,740.95 and a low of 60,245.05. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty dropped 85.60 points or 0.48 per cent to finish at 17,770.90.

"In response to rising bond yields and the dollar index, the domestic market is experiencing a broad-based sell-off, with IT and PSBs at the forefront. Clampdown in Adani group is adding anxiety to the domestic market," said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

"Domestic equities succumbed to weakness in global markets as investors fret over the Federal Reserve's stress on the tightening of the monetary policy to tame inflation. We expect market to remain lacklustre as investors await key economic data on global as well as domestic front to provide some clear direction," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers in the capital markets on Friday, purchasing shares worth a net Rs 1,458.02 crore, according to exchange data.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap and smallcap indices dropped up to 1.25 per cent. Sector-wise, BSE services, IT, realty, teck and commodities lost as much as 2.30 per cent, while capital goods and industrials finished higher.

SBI was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, tumbling 2.83 per cent, followed by Infosys, TCS, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra, Wipro and Axis Bank. In contrast, Titan, L&T, NTPC, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, ITC and HDFC twins were among the prominent winners, rising as much as 1.97 per cent.

Global equities were mixed ahead of keenly-awaited US inflation data which will determine the pace of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul closed in the red, while Shanghai settled higher.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading with gains in the afternoon session. The US markets had ended in the positive territory on Friday. The rupee fell by 15 paise to close at 82.73 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday. International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.34 per cent lower at $85.23 per barrel.