Nifty falls for 5th day; Sensex drops 281 points amid rising crude oil prices

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Monday amid rising crude oil prices and persistent geopolitical tensions in West Asia.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 281.09 points, or 0.36 per cent, to settle at 77,728.16. During the day, it dropped 555.5 points, or 0.71 per cent, to 77,453.75.

The 50-share NSE Nifty was down 78.35 points, or 0.32 per cent, to end at 24,287.65, taking the losses to the fifth day.

From the Sensex pack, Infosys, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra and ITC were among the biggest laggards.

Tata Steel, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries and Bharat Electronics were among the winners.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, climbed 1.11 per cent to USD 89.50 per barrel.

“Indian equity markets ended marginally lower on Monday, extending last week’s cautious tone as persistent uncertainty surrounding the US-Iran conflict and the absence of meaningful progress toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz kept investors on the sidelines,” Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.

In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended higher. Equity markets in South Korea were closed due to a holiday.

Markets in Europe were trading on a mixed note. US markets ended lower on Friday.

“Indian equity markets extended their losing streak for a fifth consecutive session on Monday as elevated crude oil prices continued to weigh on investor sentiment despite a recovery from intraday lows,” Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of HST Wealth, a Research Analyst firm, said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 508.12 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

On Friday, the Sensex was down 70.71 points, or 0.09 per cent, to settle at 78,009.25. The Nifty dipped 29.85 points, or 0.12 per cent, to end at 24,366.