Mumbai: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty pared early gains to close lower on Monday as investors offloaded telecom, power and utility stocks amid a bearish trend in global markets and profit booking.
Besides, intense selling in Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank counters also hit investor sentiments, traders said.
After hitting its lifetime high on Friday, the 30-share BSE index fell 216.28 points or 0.34 per cent to settle at 63,168.30. During the day, it declined 336.75 points or 0.53 per cent to 63,047.83.
The NSE Nifty went lower by 70.55 points or 0.37 per cent to end at 18,755.45. The index registered its lifetime peak of 18,826 on Friday.
There was accelerated selling, particularly in the afternoon trade, dragging the key indices from record highs.
Kotak Mahindra Bank was the biggest loser from the Sensex pack, skidding 1.83 per cent, followed by Axis Bank, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, HCL Technologies, IndusInd Bank and Nestle.
In contrast, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Titan, Infosys, HDFC Bank, HDFC and ITC were the gainers.
Among the indices, telecommunication fell by 1.34 per cent, power dipped by 0.90 per cent, realty (0.85 per cent), utilities (0.89 per cent), bankex (0.84 per cent), commodities (0.56 per cent), FMCG (0.55 per cent) and auto (0.52 per cent).
Bouts of buying were, however, seen in IT, tech, industrial, metal and healthcare sector stocks that capped the losses to some extent.
In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge dipped 0.08 per cent, while the smallcap index climbed 0.24 per
cent.
The rupee depreciated by 4 paise to close at 81.94 against the US dollar on Monday amid strong American currency against major rivals overseas and a weak trend in domestic equities.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.38 per cent to $76.31 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 794.78 crore
on Friday, according to exchange data.