Sensex sinks 311 points to close at 35,498, Nifty drops below 10,700-mark

The domestic stock market came off day's low in closing trend on Monday. While the Sensex was down 310.51 points at 35,498.44, Nifty dropped 83.85 points to finish below 10,650 level. After opening lower, key indices continue to extend losses and hit fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. All the sectorial indices ended in red led by weakness in auto, IT and financial stocks amid heavy selling by foreign institutional investors, as investors turned cautious in view of the RBI's post-budget meet.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Finance Ministry led by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley discussed the government's interim budget and the Indian economy scenario at a customary post-budget meeting on Monday. The decision on the interim dividend to government has been deferred for now with the RBI board to decide on the same.

Banking shares weakened after Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said he will meet heads of public and private sector banks this week to discuss transmission of interest rate cuts to borrowers.

RELATED

Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank cut the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 per cent to 6.25 per cent. However, only a handful of banks, including SBI, have reduced their rates, that too by just 0.05 per cent.

The top losers in the Sensex pack included TCS, Yes Bank, ITC, Sun Pharma, Reliance, Coal India, Asian Paints, SBI, Maruti, HUL, HCL Tech and ICICI Bank, falling up to 2.91 per cent. ONGC, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, Vedanta, NTPC, IndusInd Bank and HDFC gained up to 1.48 per cent. Sectorally, BSE bankex, auto, FMCG, healthcare, metal and teck indices fell up to 1.36 per cent. Only telecom and realty ended in the green, rising up to 0.88 per cent.

The top gainers in the Nifty include Bharti Infratel, ONGC, Zee Entertainment, Tata Motors and Axis Bank, while losers were Indiabulls Housing, TCS, Bajaj Finserv, Reliance Industries and Yes Bank. About 881 shares have advanced, 1667 shares declined, and 156 shares are unchanged.

Broader indices ended lower, with the BSE Midcap and Small cap falling up to 1.04 per cent. The rupee, meanwhile, depreciated 21 paise to 71.44 against the US dollar (intra-day). Brent crude futures were trading 0.15 per cent higher at USD 66.35 per barrel.

(With inputs from agencies)