Equities recovered some early losses but closed in the red on Monday with banking and financial stocks taking a sharp dip as weak macroeconomic print spooked investors amid hopes of a strong economic recovery.
Market experts said rising crude prices and their impact on retail fuel prices are a risk to inflation going forward. Contraction in industrial production and sporadic Covid-19 lockdowns added to the nervousness of investors.
At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was down by 397 points or 0.78 per cent at 50,395 while the Nifty 50 edged lower by 101 points or 0.67 per cent to 14,930.
Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty financial service down by 1.2 per cent, private bank by 1 per cent and auto by 0.4 per cent.
Among stocks, ICICI Bank fell by 1.5 per cent to Rs 603.25 per share while Bajaj Finserv lost by 2.7 per cent and Bajaj Finance by 2.4 per cent. Hero MotoCorp skidded by 2.4 per cent and Bajaj Auto by 1.9 per cent.
The other major losers were Larsen & Toubro, GAIL, Asian Paints and Dr Reddy's. However, some metal stocks like Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Hindalco showed marginal uptick.
Meanwhile, Asian stock prices inched higher while US bond yields hovered near a 13-month peak as investors bet US economic growth will accelerate after the 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus bill President Joe Biden signed into law last week.
Hong Kong stocks ended 0.33 per cent higher on upbeat China factory activity data. Japan shares gained slightly on economic rebound hopes. But South Korea's Kospi was down by 0.28 per cent.
( With inputs from ANI )
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