Sensex ends lower due to selling pressure in largecaps

Mumbai: Indian equity benchmarks snapped a three-day winning streak on Monday with the frontline indices settling lower due to a fall in largecap stocks.

At close on Monday, Nifty was down 30.95 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 23,259.20, while the Sensex fell 203.28 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 76,490.08.

The market decline was limited to largecaps.

The Nifty Midcap 100 index closed 41 points, or 0.08 per cent, higher at 53,235 , while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed 259 points, or 1.51 per cent, higher at 17,475 points.

The India VIX was down nearly 3 per cent at 16.39 points.

Seventeen out of 30 shares closed in the red on Monday.

Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Wipro, M&M, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech, and TCS were the top losers, while UltraTech Cement, Nestle, NTPC, Tata Steel, and Axis Bank were the top gainers.

Kunal Shah, Senior Technical & Derivative Analyst at LKP Securities, said, "The Nifty Index encountered resistance at higher levels and was unable to close above the 23,300 mark. Immediate support for the index stands in the 23,000-22,900 zone, with a break below this range likely to trigger aggressive selling pressure."

"In the near term, the index is expected to consolidate within a broad range of 23,000-23,500." He added.

In the morning trade, the market opened at an all-time high with both Sensex and Nifty touching all-time highs of 77,079 and 23,411 respectively, but the markets could not hold on to the higher levels as the day progressed.