Markets decline in volatile trade on profit-taking in IT, auto stocks

Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex dropped nearly 119 points while Nifty snapped its eight-day winning run in a volatile trade on Monday due to profit-taking in IT and auto shares ahead of the US Fed policy meeting.

Ending its five-day rally, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 118.96 points or 0.15 per cent to settle at 81,785.74.

The 50-share NSE Nifty settled lower by 44.80 points or 0.18 per cent to 25,069.20, halting its eight-day uptrend.

Among Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra, Asian Paints, Infosys, Titan, Sun Pharma, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra and Power Grid were the major laggards. However, Bajaj Finance, Eternal, UltraTech Cement and Reliance Industries were among the gainers.

Broader markets were positive with the Smallcap gauge climbing 0.66 per cent and the Midcap index gaining 0.40 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, BSE Focused IT dropped the most by 0.63 per cent, followed by IT (0.60 per cent), consumer durables (0.50 per cent), teck (0.45 per cent) and auto (0.32 per cent). Realty jumped 2.47 per cent, while capital goods (0.61 per cent), industrials (0.61 per cent), telecommunication (0.53 per cent) and power (0.51 per cent) also advanced.