Sensex declines 151 points on heavy selloff in auto, bank stocks; Nifty slips below 10,900 mark

Mumbai: Indian equities extended their fall for yet another session on Monday, with the BSE Sensex falling over 150 points and the NSE Nifty slipping below the 10,900 mark on heavy selloff in banking, realty, auto and pharma stocks. Investors were cautious ahead of industrial production and inflation data due this week, amid as global growth worries, including the US-China tariff tiff, and lacklustre corporate earnings, traders said. The 30-share barometer after shuttling between 36,588.41 and 36,300.48 points, finally ended at 36,395.03, down 151.45 points, or 0.41 percent. The gauge had lost nearly 429 points in the previous two sessions. [caption id=“attachment_4748931” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] The 50-scrip NSE Nifty finished 49.80 points, or 0.50 percent, down at 10,888.80, after touching a low of 10,857.10 and a high of 10,930.90 during the session. Auto segment stocks continued to trade in the red with M and M, emerging as the biggest loser in the Sensex pack by plunging nearly 5 percent after it reported 11.44 percent decline in standalone profit after tax (PAT) at Rs 1,076.81 crore on Friday for the third quarter ended 31 December, 2018. Brokers said auto sector stocks were centre of nervous selling, triggered by dismal quarterly earnings posted by leading auto makers. Meanwhile, domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales declined for the third month in a row in January, dropping 1.87 percent, as manufacturers continued to reduce inventory at dealers following a tepid festive season sales, according to SIAM. Other losers include ONGC, Bajaj Finance, Reliance, SBI, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank, L&T, Vedanta, Yes Bank and Axis Bank, falling up to 2.54 percent. On the other hand, Tata Steel, PowerGrid, HCL Tech, Kotak Bank and Maruti were the top gainers on Sensex, rising up to 2.31 percent. Meanwhile, on a net basis, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 960.04 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 843.73 crore on Friday, provisional data released by the stock exchanges showed.