Bears slash early gains in markets as Sensex falls 38 points; metal stocks crack, Tata Steel dips 12%

Mumbai: Equity indices frittered away a good start to close with modest losses on Monday, pressured by heavy selling in metal stocks after the government imposed export duties on steel-making raw materials to curb soaring prices.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened strong and gained momentum as the session progressed, but came under severe selling pressure in afternoon trade to close 37.78 points or 0.07 per cent lower at

54,288.61.

On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty slipped 51.45 points or 0.32 per cent to end at 16,214.70.

Metal stocks took a knock after the government on Saturday hiked the tax on export of iron ores and concentrates to 50 per cent, and imposed a duty of 45 per cent on iron pellets in a bid to increase their domestic availability and curb soaring steel prices.

Tata Steel was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, plummeting 12.53 per cent, followed by UltraTech Cement, ITC, PowerGrid, HDFC, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech and Reliance Industries.

In contrast, M&M, Maruti, HUL, Larsen & Toubro, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Wipro were among the gainers, climbing as much as 4.14 per cent.

The rupee recovered from record lows and settled 15 paise higher at 77.55 against the US currency on Monday following a weak dollar in overseas

markets.