Bourses decline amid foreign fund outflows as Sensex falls 168 pts, Nifty ends below 17,900

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty gave up early gains to close lower on Monday due to selling in metal, oil and gas and financial stocks as FII outflows dampened the investor sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 168.21 points or 0.28 per cent to settle at 60,092.97 as 15 of its constituents dropped. The barometer opened higher and touched a high of 60,586.77 in morning session. Later in the day, it fell 297.35 points or 0.49 per cent to 59,963.83.

The broader NSE Nifty dipped 61.75 points or 0.34 per cent to end at 17,894.85 as 32 of its stocks dropped.

“The sluggish mood continued as markets moved in a narrow range with a negative bias. Investors are taking a cautious stance as the global macroeconomic scenario remains bleak while FIIs continued to be sellers in domestic equities in the current month, thus dampening the market sentiment,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

From the Sensex pack, Axis Bank fell the most by 2.26 per cent. NTPC declined 1.16 per cent and HDFC by 1.03 per cent. Among others, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra and ICICI Bank also declined.

On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and Power Grid were among the major winners.

International oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.54 per cent to $84.82 per barrel.

The rupee pared initial gains and settled 21 paise lower at 81.59 against the US dollar on Monday, tracking a rebound in the greenback overseas and a muted trend in domestic

equities.