Mumbai, Jan 2 (IANS) Profit booking, coupled with a depreciating rupee and weak domestic macro data, pulled the Indian equities markets lower on Monday.
Prime minister Narendra Modi's sops announced in his New Year's Eve address on Saturday could not cheer the equities markets.
"Domestic markets opened on a subdued note on the first trading day of 2017 and closed in red due to profit-booking and absence of cues from other global markets," SMC Global Securities said in a commentary to IANS.
"The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, or PMI, fell to 49.6 in December from November's 52.3 and the same data points toward contraction. This also ruined the sentiments of the market participants. This was the biggest month-on-month decline since November 2008," it added.
The key indices, which opened on a flat note and witnessed a temporary sway into the positive zone during the mid-afternoon session, closed the day's trade on a flat note -- marginally in the red.
The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) fell by 6.30 points or 0.08 per cent to 8,179.50 points.
The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 26,711.15 points, closed at 26,595.45 points -- down 31.01 points or 0.12 per cent from the previous day's close at 26,626.46 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 26,720.98 points and a low of 26,447.06 points during the intra-day trade.
However, the BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bulls -- with 1,914 advances and 800 declines.
On Friday last week, the equity markets closed on a pleasant note on the back of rupee appreciation, firm global cues and value buying.
The barometer index was up 260.31 points or 0.99 per cent to close at 26,626.46 points, whereas the NSE Nifty gained 82.20 points or 1.01 per cent to 8,185.80 points.
On Monday, the depreciation in the Indian rupee subdued investors' sentiments. It weakened by 30 paise to 68.23 against a US dollar from its previous close of 67.93 to a greenback.
"Indian rupee started the year with a negative impression as it slid against the dollar in the first session of 2017 after local stocks opened on a cautious note and overseas dollar remained firm," the stock brokerage firm SMC pointed out.
"Moreover, demand from importers for greenback also hurt the sentiment for local unit."
Outflow of foreign funds further limited the upward trend of the benchmark indices.
In terms of investments, provisional data with exchanges showed that the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth Rs 260.64 crore, whereas the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased scrip worth Rs 20.66 crore.
According to Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, USD/INR futures prices traded with firm sentiments, which limited the upside of the markets at higher levels in the second half of the session.
"IT stocks failed to sustain at higher levels and traded down mainly due to profit booking at higher levels," Desai added.
"Banking stocks witnessed selling pressure throughout the session, whereas pharma, auto, oil-gas, textile, aviation, FMCG, cement and power sector stocks traded with firm sentiments due to buying support."
Sector-wise, the S&P BSE banking index plunged by 245.56 points, followed by the finance index by 39.73 points, and the IT index by 33.59 points.
On the contrary, the S&P automobile index surged by 394.30 points, followed by the metal index by 190.66 points and the consumer durables index by 184.40 points.
Major Sensex gainers on Monday were: Tata Steel, up 3.80 per cent at Rs 405.95; Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), up 3.42 per cent at Rs 1,224.90; Tata Motors, up 3.37 per cent at Rs 487.25; Maruti Suzuki, up 2.69 per cent at Rs 5,466.10; and Adani Ports, up 2.11 per cent at Rs 273.75.
Major Sensex losers were: HDFC, down 3.42 per cent at Rs 1,219.25; State Bank of India (SBI), down 2.46 per cent at Rs 243.60; Bajaj Auto, down 1.41 per cent at Rs 2,596.80; ICICI Bank, down 1.37 per cent at Rs 251.80; and Infosys, down 0.90 per cent at Rs 1,001.60.
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Doraiah Chowdary Vundavally is a Software engineer at VTech . He is the news editor of SocialNews.XYZ and Freelance writer-contributes Telugu and English Columns on Films, Politics, and Gossips. He is the primary contributor for South Cinema Section of SocialNews.XYZ. His mission is to help to develop SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgement towards any.