As many as 21 BSE Sensex stocks traded in negative territory with Axis Bank falling the most, down nearly 5 per cent

BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 ended lower on Monday on the back of mixed global cues amid rising coronavirus cases. The 30-share index slipped 210 points or 0.60 per cent to end at 34,961.52, while the broader Nifty 50 index dropped 71 points or 0.68 per cent to close the session at 10,312. During intraday deals, Sensex hit a high and low of 35,032.36 and 34,662.06 levels, respectively. Index heavyweights such as Infosys, Reliance Industries, HDFC, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank contributed the most to the indices’ fall today. “During the afternoon session markets recovered marginally but failed to sustain the gains as European markets opened lacklustre which further weighed on already negative sentiments,” said Narendra Solanki, Head Fundamental Research, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers.

Axis Bank falls nearly 5%: As many as 21 BSE Sensex stocks traded in negative territory with Axis Bank falling the most, down nearly 5 per cent, followed by Tech Mahindra, State Bank of India, L&T, IndusInd Bank, ONGC and RIL. On the other hand, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, ITC and Nestle India were up in the range of 2-0.50 per cent.

Nifty PSU Bank plunges over 3%: Barring Nifty FMCG, all the sectoral indices finished trade in negative territory. Nifty PSU Bank slumped 3.31 per cent, Nifty Realty fell 3.55 per cent while Nifty Metal index was down 2.64 per cent. On the contrary, Nifty FMCG index gained 0.72 per cent.

What dragged Sensex, Nifty: “With states in India set to extend lockdown or reconsidering bringing back lockdown measures, markets seem to be weighing the bad news. As before, the uptrend remains intact but the upside may be capped,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Technical outlook: Following subdued Asian markets, Indian share market started the week on a negative note. “Index started a week on a negative note and closed a day at 10312 with loss of 71 points forming a dragonfly Doji kind of candle pattern on the daily chart which represents uncertainty in the markets. Now index has shifted its support to 10270-10200 zone and resistance is coming near 10370-10450 zone, the positional structure still looks goods and dip can be used as buying opportunity with keeping overall stop out level below 10k mark,” said Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.