Market on Monday: Nifty, Sensex End Choppy Day in Red, Extends Losses to 4th Day

By Malvika Gurung

Investing.com -- Indian equity benchmark indices ended a volatile session lower on Monday, extending losses to the fourth straight day, amid continued tensions between Russia and Ukraine. 

Domestic benchmark gauges Nifty 50 and Sensex closed 0.4% and 0.26% in red, respectively, slumped by weakness across the auto, metal and pharmaceutical scrips, while bank shares provided some support to the market.

After opening lower, amid weak cues from global markets, benchmark indices had pared nearly all early losses, on reports of the US President Biden to have agreed to meet the Russian President Putin to discuss a diplomatic solution on the Ukraine issue, before receding to the red.

Domestic markets will fall under the weight of multiple upcoming events this week, including monthly F&O settlement, ongoing state elections, critical sentiments on the Russia-Ukraine borders and continued FII outflows, amid others.

While the markets are worried about the Russia-Ukraine situation, a USA-Iran deal could smoothen oil prices, and provide much-needed respite to inflation. In any case, the week ahead is going to be volatile, states Vineet Bagri from TrustPlutus Wealth.

Broader indices ended lower, underperforming the headline indices, led by the Nifty Smallcap plunging 2.73% and Nifty Midcap dropping 1.24%.

Except for banking and financial services sectors, all the sectoral indices on the Nifty basket ended in red, led by Nifty Metal , down 2.1%. Indices Nifty Bank and Nifty Private Bank gained 0.23% and 0.25%, respectively.

76% stocks on the Nifty 50 index ended in the red, led by Hindalco (NS: HALC ), UPL (NS: UPLL ), Divi's Laboratories (NS: DIVI ), Adani Ports (NS: APSE ) and Sun Pharmaceutical (NS: SUN ), while Wipro (NS: WIPR ), Infosys (NS: INFY ), Shree Cements (NS: SHCM ) and Power Grid (NS: PGRD ) were the top gainers.

On the 30-scrip Sensex, only 10 stocks ended in the green. India VIX rose over 3%.