Markets remain under bear's grip for 2nd-day in row; Sensex slips 94 pts, Nifty falls to 16,569

Mumbai: Equity indices stayed on the backfoot for the second straight session on Monday as investors remained cautious amid unabated selling by foreign funds and elevated crude oil prices ahead of the RBI's policy decision later this week.

After tumbling over 450 points in early trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex clawed back some lost ground to end at 55,675.32, down 93.91 points or 0.17 per cent.

On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty dipped 14.75 points or 0.09 per cent to finish at 16,569.55.

Asian Paints was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, tumbling 2.36 per cent, followed by UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India, L&T, Axis Bank, Dr Reddy's and HUL.

In contrast, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, M&M, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys and ICICI Bank were among the gainers, rising up to 0.99 per cent.

The market breadth was negative, with 21 of the 30 Sensex components closing with losses. In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge declined 0.54 per cent while the midcap index dropped 0.15 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty fell by 0.87 per cent, followed by consumer discretionary goods & services (0.79 per cent), capital goods (0.53 per cent) and telecom (0.31 per cent). The gainers included metal (0.72 per cent), oil and gas (0.50 per cent) and energy (0.41 per cent).

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.61 per cent to $120.4 per barrel. The rupee inched up 2 paise to close at 77.64 against the US dollar on Monday, tracking a weak American currency in the overseas market. PTI