Sensex, Nifty settle marginally lower in volatile trade

Stock markets closed marginally lower in a highly volatile trade on Monday as investors turned cautious .

Recovering from early lows, the 30-share Sensex closed lower by 56.99 points or 0.07 per cent to settle at 79,648.92.

The index had declined by 479.78 points or 0.60 per cent to a low of 79,226.13 in morning trade.

The benchmark later staged a sharp recovery climbing 400.27 points or 0.50 per cent to 80,106.18.

But at the fag-end, the BSE benchmark slipped into the negative territory to close lower.

The NSE Nifty dipped 20.50 points or 0.08 per cent to 24,347.

Intra-day, it hit a low of 24,212.10 and a high of 24,472.80.

From 30 Sensex firms, Adani Ports, NTPC, Power Grid, State Bank of India, Nestle, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries and Tata Consultancy Services were the biggest laggards.

Axis Bank, Infosys, JSW Steel, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the gainers from the blue-chip pack.

All the 10 Adani group stocks declined sharply during early trade, with Adani Energy Solutions tumbling 17 per cent and Adani Total Gas dropping 13.39 per cent.

At close, eight of the group firms ended lower, while two of them bounced back.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Hong Kong settled in the positive territory while Shanghai ended lower.

Markets in Tokyo and Bangkok were closed for a holiday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Friday after days of offloading equities.

They bought equities worth Rs 406.72 crore, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.83 per cent to $80.32 a barrel.