Sensex, Nifty plunge on weak global cues

Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex tumbled by nearly 483 points on Monday due to selling in IT, capital goods and banking shares following losses in global equities on worries over high-interest rates.

The 30-share index tanked 482.61 points or 0.81 per cent to close at 58,964.57 with 23 of its constituents closing in the red. During the day, it tumbled 552.78 points or 0.92 per cent to 58,894.40. The 50-issue Nifty of the National Stock Exchange declined by 109.40 points or 0.62 per cent to finish at 17,674.95 as 29 of its stocks declined.

"Negative sentiment across Asian equities had a bearing on local stocks, as investors followed suit and trimmed their positions in risky counters. Investors, especially, shunned technology stocks ahead of TCS results because of fears that any subdued outlook for the next quarter earnings could ignite further selling in the sector going ahead," said Shrikant Chouhan, head (equity research-retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

"The market is wary ahead of the ECB meeting, the release of US inflation data, and the start of the domestic Q4 result season. Indian IT sector dragged due to weak result expectations on a QoQ basis. In this shortened week, the market is cautious as trading at the upper side of the trend and momentum has shifted from broad to stock-specific," sadi Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

"Markets started the week on a feeble note following weak global cues and lost over half a per cent. After a muted opening, the benchmark continued to trade in a range however the bias was on the negative side. Amid all, sectoral indices traded mixed wherein selling pressure in IT heavyweights and select index majors from the banking and financials space dented sentiment," adds Ajit Mishra, V-P (research), Religare Broking Ltd.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to offload shares worth Rs575.04 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.