Stock markets close lower for 2nd day; IT stocks fall after US rating downgrade

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.

"Markets languished in negative territory for major part of the trading session as weak Asian and European indices resulted in investors resorting to profit-taking in IT, capital goods and oil & gas shares," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said. Also Moody's downgrading US credit rating by a notch over the weekend created some sort of uncertainty amongst investors, Tapse added. "Indian equity markets extended their losses for a second consecutive day on Monday, dragged down by a combination of weak global cues, sharp selling in IT stocks, and rising volatility," Gaurav Garg, Analyst, Lemonn Markets Desk, said. Investor sentiment took a hit after Moody’s downgraded the US sovereign credit rating to 'Aa1', citing the nation’s surging USD 36 trillion debt, he said. "Global markets echoed this nervousness. Asian and European equities traded mostly lower..." Garg added. 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). Among Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled lower while Shanghai's SSE Composite index ended higher. European markets were trading lower. US markets ended in positive territory on Friday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.41 per cent to USD 65.14 a barrel. 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.