Markets decline on selling in blue-chip RIL & HDFC Bank amid fresh tariff hike threat by US

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Monday, dragged by blue-chip HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and IT stocks amid fresh warning from the US to further raise tariffs against India.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 322.39 points or 0.38 per cent to settle at 85,439.62.

After hitting a record intra-day high of 26,373.20, the 50-share NSE Nifty failed to carry forward the momentum and declined 78.25 points or 0.30 per cent to end at 26,250.30.

A total of 2,545 stocks declined, while 1,723 advanced and 203 remained unchanged on the BSE.

From the 30-Sensex firms, HDFC Bank, Infosys, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consultancy Services and Reliance Industries were among the biggest laggards.

In contrast, Bharat Electronics, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Steel and UltraTech Cement were among the gainers.

The BSE smallcap and midcap indices went up marginally by 0.07 per cent and 0.05 per cent, respectively.

Among sectoral indices, IT declined by 1.37 per cent, oil & gas (1.18 per cent), BSE Focused IT (1.17 per cent), energy (0.95 per cent), telecommunication (0.81 per cent), utilities (0.38 per cent) and financial services (0.25 per cent).

On the other hand, realty jumped 2.16 per cent, consumer durables (1.25 per cent), metal (0.58 per cent), commodities (0.56 per cent), FMCG (0.51 per cent) and PSU bank (0.40 per cent).

FIIs bought equities worth Rs 289.80 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also bought stocks worth Rs 677.38 crore.