Sensex, Nifty close lower in choppy trade
Benchmark Sensex slid over 194 points to settle at 37,935 in a see-saw session on Monday, weighed down by intense selling in banking stocks. After starting off the session on a positive note, the BSE Sensex got caught in a downward spiral and slumped over 500 points from the day's peak. It managed to recover some lost ground and finally settled at 37,934.73, showing a loss of 194.17 points or 0.51 per cent.
Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty closed 62.35 points or 0.56 per cent lower at 11,131.80.
On the Sensex chart, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finance emerged as the major laggards, dropping over 6 per cent.
On the other hand, Asian Paints, HCL Tech, Infosys, TCS, Ultratech Cement and Tata Steel were among the prominent gainers.
Asian shares ended mixed on Monday amid concerns over growing US-China friction and fresh coronavirus cases in China and South Korea.
On the forex market front, the Indian rupee ended unchanged 74.83 against the US dollar.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.43 per cent lower at USD 43.59 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the number of cases around the world linked to COVID-19 has crossed 1.6 crore and the deaths are over 6.5 lakh.
In India, the death toll due to the disease is inching towards the 33,000-mark and the number of infections has topped 14 lakh, official data showed.
