Sensex, Nifty Fall For Second Straight Session; Metal, Auto Shares Worst Hit

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes fell for second straight session on Monday on the back of the broad-based selling pressure led by declines in Infosys, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance and State Bank of India. The benchmarks opened lower and extended losses in the last hour of trade owing to spike in volatility, wherein the India VIX index spiked 2 per cent. The Sensex fell as much as 631 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 14,238.70.

The Sensex ended 470 points lower at 48,564 and Nifty 50 index declined 152 points or 1 per cent to settle at 14,281.

Selling pressure was visible across the board as all the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Metal index's over 4.5 per cent fall.

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes fell for second straight session on Monday on the back of the broad-based selling pressure led by declines in Infosys, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance and State Bank of India. The benchmarks opened lower and extended losses in the last hour of trade owing to spike in volatility, wherein the India VIX index spiked 2 per cent. The Sensex fell as much as 631 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 14,238.70.

The Sensex ended 470 points lower at 48,564 and Nifty 50 index declined 152 points or 1 per cent to settle at 14,281.

Investors are booking profits after a record-breaking streak ahead of Union Budget presentation on February 1, analysts said.

Selling pressure was visible across the board as all the 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Metal index's over 4.5 per cent fall.

Nifty Auto, Media, Pharma, Bank, PSU Bank, Private Bank and Realty indexes also fell between 1.8-3 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed selling pressure as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 2.45 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 1.96 per cent.

Among the individual shares, Dewan Housing Finance Corporation rose 5 per cent after the company's creditors voted in favour of Rs 37,250 crore takeover bid submitted by the Piramal Group for the troubled "shadow" lender on Friday.

Tata Motors was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 6 per cent to close at Rs 245. Tata Steel, ONGC, Hindalco, JSW Steel, IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Grasim Industries, Coal India and Indian Oil were also among the losers.

On the flipside, UPL, Reliance Industries, Titan, HDFC Bank, ITC and Eicher Motors were among the notable gainers.

The overall market breadth was extremely negative as 2,090 shares ended lower while 938 closed higher on the BSE.