Markets end in red; RIL, HDFC twins top drags

Equity indices chalked up losses for the second straight session on Monday, in tandem with a bearish trend overseas as ratcheting up of hostilities in Ukraine and prospects of further rate hikes by the US Fed soured global risk sentiment.

The rupee slipping to another all-time low against the US dollar amid foreign fund outflows added to the gloom, traders said.

After tumbling over 800 points in intra-day trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex clawed back some lost ground to end 200.18 points or 0.34 per cent lower at 57,991.11.

On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty fell 73.65 points or 0.43 per cent to end at 17,241.

Asian Paints was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, dropping 1.99 per cent, followed by Titan, ITC, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, HDFC and Nestle India.

In contrast, Axis Bank topped the gainers' chart with a jump of 2.76 per cent, while TCS spurted 1.84 per cent ahead of its results.

Maruti, Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies were among the other winners.

The market breadth was negative, with 19 of the 30 Sensex components posting losses.

"Fear of an aggressive rate hike by the Fed on the back of strong employment data in the US, disrupted the global equity trend.

"Inflation in the US is forecasted to stay high given low supply and high demand scenarios.

"To bring some parity in the economy, the Fed will have to target to lower demand by increasing the unemployment rate, which is not factored by the market.

"In addition, rising crude prices and depreciating rupee is increasing the risk of imported inflation in India, affecting the domestic market," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said  Indian equities came under pressure due to global factors and increased geopolitical risks in Ukraine.

"Going forward, markets are likely to witness swings as any escalation in geopolitical environment can lead to increase in volatility. Further, inflation data and US Fed meeting minutes will be closely monitored.

"Domestically Q2 earning season will commence with almost 22 per cent of Nifty weightage announcing their results during the week, including IT heavyweights, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Auto, etc," he added.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge fell by 0.87 per cent and smallcap index dipped 0.58 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables fell by 1.43 per cent, followed by power (1.30 per cent), utilities (1.12 per cent), FMCG (1.01 per cent), realty (0.98 per cent) and consumer discretionary (0.88 per cent).

IT and teck ended in the positive zone.

World markets wavered after Kremlin ramped up bombings in Ukraine in an apparent retaliation against an explosion on the bridge connecting Russian mainland to Crimea.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the negative territory.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude futures declined 0.80 per cent to $97.14 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net Rs 2,250.77 crore on Friday, according to data available with BSE.