Bourses close lower for 2nd day, Sensex falls by 271 points on selling in IT & banking stocks

Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex dropped by 271 points on Monday, marking the second straight day of losses due to selling in IT and banking stocks and a weak trend in global markets after rating downgrade of the US by Moody’s Ratings.

The 30-share BSE barometer declined 271.17 points or 0.33 per cent to settle at 82,059.42. During the day, it dropped 366.02 points or 0.44 per cent to a low of 81,964.57. The NSE Nifty dipped 74.35 points or 0.30 per cent to 24,945.45.

Among Sensex firms, Eternal, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Asian Paints, HCL Tech and Adani Ports were the laggards.

Power Grid, Bajaj Finance, NTPC, State Bank of India and IndusInd Bank were among the gainers.

Among sectors, realty, pharma, and auto shares advanced while IT declined by over a percent.

The broader market witnessed a mixed performance as the BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.75 per cent and midcap index ended up by 0.27 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Focused IT declined 1.33 per cent, IT (1.23 per cent), teck (1.07 per cent), oil & gas (0.32 per cent), telecommunication (0.24 per cent) and capital goods (0.16 per cent).

Realty jumped 2.22 per cent, healthcare (0.58 per cent), utilities (0.42 per cent), auto (0.41 per cent), power (0.36 per cent) and financial services (0.32 per cent).

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 8,831.05 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

On Friday, the Sensex declined 200.15 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at 82,330.59. The Nifty dropped 42.30 points or 0.17 per cent to 25,019.80.