Sensex sheds 136 points to end below 26,000

Markets extended losses amid profit taking as lack of buying interest by institutional investors dragged the BSE benchmark index below 26,000.

Weakness in RIL, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and ONGC weighed on the indices heavily.

For the day, the Sensex was down 136 points at 25,991 and the Nifty gave off 42 points to trade at 7,749.

The broader markets underperformed as both the mid and smallcap indices were down 0.4-0.7%.

The markets will remain closed for trading on Tuesday, July 29, on account of Ramzan ID.

The Indian rupee was trading unchanged at 60.11 compared to its previous close. Meanwhile, month-end demand for dollars from crude oil importers is likely to keep the pressure on the Indian currency.

Sectors & Stocks

Consumer Durables, IT, FMCG and Health Care indices closed in green with gains of atleast 0.2%.

Realty index was the top loser down nearly 3% followed by Metal, Oil and Gas and Bankex indices down 0.7-1.5%.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was down 1.6% after gaining nearly 5% last week while ICICI Bank was down 1.6% contributing the most to the Sensex losses.

TCS which had gained 6.6% last week slipped 0.6% in today’s trade.

Tata Motors extended losses and was down 2% after its overseas arm Jaguar Land Rover agreed to lower prices of three of its car models in China by five-seven

per cent after being told it was overcharging.

Prices of the Range Rover V8, Range Rover Sports V8 and Jaguar F-Type will be reduced by an average of 200,000 yuan (Rs 20.4 lakh) from August 1.

Every fourth car made by Jaguar Land Rover is sold in China.

Coal India was down a liitle over 3% on talk that the company has suffered a production loss of 50 million tonne (mt) of coal due to delays in environment clearance and land acquisition.

The market breadth was negative on BSE. 1,664 stocks declined while 1,189 stocks advanced on BSE.

Global Markets

Asian stocks shrugged off a drop in Wall Street and hit a three-year high on Monday, with China taking the lead after data showed a robust jump in profits earned by industrial firms in the world's second-largest economy.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2% after touching a three-year high of 510.01.

China's CSI300 jumped 2.6%, with bank shares surging after Reuters reported the country's fifth biggest bank by assets plans to seek more private investors. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 0.8%.

Tokyo's Nikkei, which hit a six-month closing high Friday, was up 0.4%.

In the European markets, CAC and FTSE were up 0.4% and 0.1% respectively while DAX was marginally in red.