Sensex, Nifty fall amid caution ahead of inflation data

Mumbai:Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty declined on Monday due to selling pressure in IT, consumer durables and financial stocks as investors turned cautious ahead of the release of inflation data.

Giving up Diwali day gains, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 325.58 points or 0.50 per cent to settle at 64,933.87. During the day, it dropped 406.09 points or 0.62 per cent to 64,853.36. The Nifty declined 82 points or 0.42 per cent to 19,443.55. Among the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Nestle, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries were the major laggards. Mahindra & Mahindra, JSW Steel, NTPC, Power Grid and IndusInd Bank were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul settled in the negative territory while Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the green. European markets were trading with gains. The US markets ended with significant gains on Friday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.20 per cent to USD 81.27 a barrel. Stock exchanges conducted a one-hour special Muhurat trading session on the occasion of Diwali on November 12. The BSE benchmark jumped 354.77 points or 0.55 per cent to settle at 65,259.45 on the first trading session of Samvat 2080 on Sunday. The broader Nifty advanced 100.20 points or 0.52 per cent to 19,525.55. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 190.06 crore on Sunday, according to exchange data.