Sensex slides 130 pts, Nifty50 ends below 9,150
NEW DLEHI: Domestic equity benchmarks snapped a three-day rally and shed weight on Monday, taking a breather after the Nifty50 scaled an all-time high last week, as software services exporters came under pressure on worries over a stronger rupee and a slowdown in business.
Shares of Idea Cellular fell as much as 11 per cent on BSE, reversing earlier gains of 14.25 per cent, after the telecom services provider said it would merge with Vodafone's Indian operations as some investors thought the deal values the stock much below its current market price. The promoters rejected the valuation rumours.
But the overall market sentiment remained positive on hope for additional economic reforms from the government. The Modi Cabinet approved four bills to implement a planned Goods and Services Tax (GST), a government official said on Monday, paving the way for the country to implement the landmark tax reform from July 1.
But concerns about share valuations and a lack of big events are likely to keep trading rangebound, analysts said.
“We have moved to an event vacuum stage as the quarterly results are some two-three weeks away. We have little of major events now. After testing the 9,200 levels (in Nifty), markets have little to fuel further rally. Investors are looking for bargains," said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
The broader Nifty ended 0.36 percent at 9,126. It hit a record high of 9,218 on Friday. The benchmark Sensex was 0.44 per cent or 130 points lower at 29,495.73.
The IT sector accounted for around 50 per cent of the losses on the Nifty50 index, led by TCS and Infosys, both of which were down around 2 per cent.
The rupee strengthened slightly to 65.4124/4150 per dollar, not far from the near 17-month high of 65.2250 hit last week, raising concerns about overseas returns in the sector.
Among other losers, Axis Bank lost nearly 3 per cent to Rs 502, while ICICI Bank shed a little less than 2 per cent.
Among the gainers, Aurobindo Pharma rose 2.54 per cent to Rs 705, followed by Grasim (up 2.16 per cent to Rs 1,063), BHEL (up 1.69 per cent to Rs 171) and Eicher Motors (up 1.46 per cent to Rs 25,051)
Kotak Mahindra Bank was up 1.23 percent after the bank said on Friday that it would seek approval from shareholders to raise the foreign shareholding limit up to 49 percent.
Shares of Idea Cellular fell as much as 11 per cent on BSE, reversing earlier gains of 14.25 per cent, after the telecom services provider said it would merge with Vodafone's Indian operations as some investors thought the deal values the stock much below its current market price. The promoters rejected the valuation rumours.
But the overall market sentiment remained positive on hope for additional economic reforms from the government. The Modi Cabinet approved four bills to implement a planned Goods and Services Tax (GST), a government official said on Monday, paving the way for the country to implement the landmark tax reform from July 1.
But concerns about share valuations and a lack of big events are likely to keep trading rangebound, analysts said.
“We have moved to an event vacuum stage as the quarterly results are some two-three weeks away. We have little of major events now. After testing the 9,200 levels (in Nifty), markets have little to fuel further rally. Investors are looking for bargains," said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
The broader Nifty ended 0.36 percent at 9,126. It hit a record high of 9,218 on Friday. The benchmark Sensex was 0.44 per cent or 130 points lower at 29,495.73.
The IT sector accounted for around 50 per cent of the losses on the Nifty50 index, led by TCS and Infosys, both of which were down around 2 per cent.
The rupee strengthened slightly to 65.4124/4150 per dollar, not far from the near 17-month high of 65.2250 hit last week, raising concerns about overseas returns in the sector.
Among other losers, Axis Bank lost nearly 3 per cent to Rs 502, while ICICI Bank shed a little less than 2 per cent.
Among the gainers, Aurobindo Pharma rose 2.54 per cent to Rs 705, followed by Grasim (up 2.16 per cent to Rs 1,063), BHEL (up 1.69 per cent to Rs 171) and Eicher Motors (up 1.46 per cent to Rs 25,051)
Kotak Mahindra Bank was up 1.23 percent after the bank said on Friday that it would seek approval from shareholders to raise the foreign shareholding limit up to 49 percent.
