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Sensex Falls For Second Day; Nifty Ends Below 8,800
23 Feb 2015, 04:07 PM IST 
Sensex fell for second straight day in trades on Monday owing to heavy selling pressure witnessed by oil & gas, FMCG and consumer durable stocks.
The 50-share Nifty closed below its important psychological level of 8,800 led by losses in heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ONGC, HUL, ITC and HDFC.
Meanwhile, the Budget session of the Indian government started today with the President Pranab Mukherjee addressing both the houses of the Parliament.
President Pranab Mukherjee said that inclusive growth was the government's top priority and it was committed to expand the job market.
"Inclusive growth covering the poorest of poor is the government's top priority," Mr Mukherjee said while addressing the members of two houses of parliament at the start of the budget session.
Analysts said traders were seen squaring off their leveraged positions (stocks bought on borrowed money) ahead of the key event which is expected to impact markets in a big way.
Hemen Kapadia, senior vice president of KR Choksey told NDTV that, "Today's correction is a welcome correction as markets had run up from 8550 odd levels to 8,900 in eight to nine trading sessions and correction was on expected lines".
Maintaining that the markets are in bull run, Mr Kapadia said going ahead, "Nifty had important support at 8,794 which it broke today and now important support zone for Nifty is around 8,620 and 8,690 levels".
From the Nifty basket, 41 stocks declined while only 9 stocks advanced in trades today.
Zee Entertainment was the top loser on the Nifty. The stock fell 4.5 per cent to Rs 343. Reliance Industries, NMDC, State Bank of India, ONGC, Tata Power, HUL, ITC and BHEL were also among the losers, down 13 per cent each.
Shares of Jindal Steel and Power and DLF declined over 3 per cent each after the National Stock Exchange decided to move both the shares out of the Nifty basket.
All the sectoral indices closed in the red. Oil & gas stocks were the worst hit in trades today. The BSE oil & gas index fell 2 per cent led by losses in ONGC and Reliance Industries. Consumer durables, FMCG, realty and metal indices closed weaker by 1-2 per cent each.
The broader markets also ended on a weak note. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices slipped 0.8 and 0.3 per cent each respectively.
The overall breadth on the Bombay Stock Exchange was negative as 1,697 stocks declined while 1,192 advanced.
The Sensex finally closed at 28,975, down 256 points and the Nifty closed weaker by 79 points at 8,755.