Sensex, Nifty off day's low; RCom soars 10%

The BSE Sensex traded off the day's low in the afternoon session on Monday after earlier falling over 300 points. The broader Nifty regained the key 5,800 mark, while the rupee pulled back below the 61 to the dollar mark.

Banking stocks also recovered, with the Bank Nifty traded 1.4 per cent lower against over 2 per cent fall in early trades. IT and pharma stocks saw buying interest as a weak rupee shores up the bottom line of exporters.

HCL Tech was among the top Nifty gainers, up 2.7 per cent, while Infosys gained 0.7 per cent ahead of reporting Q1 earnings on Friday. Drugmakers such as Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's traded with over 1 per cent gains.

Oil refiner BPCL was the top Nifty gainer, down 5 per cent. Importers bear the biggest brunt of rupee weakness as they have to pay more for commodities priced in dollars. Tata Motors traded 3 per cent lower as JLR sales in China lagged behind competitors.

Private lenders such as Axis Bank and ICICI Bank traded with over 2.5 per cent cuts. Mortgage major HDFC fell nearly 3 per cent.

Anil Ambani promoted shares saw buying interest. Reliance Infra was the top Nifty gainer, up 2.8 per cent, while RCom surged over 10 per cent after the company decided to demerge its real estate business in a separate company.

The Sensex traded 166 points lower at 19,330 as of 1.36 p.m., while the Nifty traded at 5,811, down 57 points. The rupee traded at 60.93 after earlier falling to 61.21 against the dollar.