Sensex, Nifty Fall For Fourth Straight Session As Tensions Between Russia, Ukraine Simmer

The Indian equity benchmarks fell for fourth session in a row on Monday as simmering tensions between Russia and Ukraine kept investors at tenterhooks while relentless selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) of Indian shares also added to sombre mood on Dalal Street, analysts said. The markets staged a gap down opening recovered intraday losses and again fell as they succumbed to profit booking at higher levels. The Sensex traded in a band of 975 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday low of 17,070 and high of 17,351.

The Sensex ended 149 points lower at 57,683.59 and Nifty 50 index declined 70 points to 17,206.65.

"The news updates around Russia-Ukraine continue to weigh on the sentiment, which resulted in a sharp reaction from the participants in the initial sessions. The situation eased a bit in the following sessions amid the mixed cues, but selling pressure continued across the board and most sectors ended lower," said Ajit Mishra, VP Research at Religare Broking.

Electric power station and a central city hospital was damaged in Donetsk after shelling from Ukrainian side, news agency Sputnik reported.

Meanwhile, twelve of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty Media index's nearly 3 per cent decline. Nifty Metal, Healthcare, Realty and Pharma indices also fell between 1-2 per cent.

On the other hand, banking, financial services and private bank indices ended higher.

Mid- and small-cap shares underperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 1.24 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index tumbled nearly 3 per cent.

Hindalco was top Nifty loser, the stock fell 3.4 per cent to close at Rs 512. UPL, Divi's Labs, Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, Grasim Industries, TCS, Indian Oil, Bajaj Auto, ONGC, ITC and JSW Steel also fell between 1.6-2.8 per cent.

On the flipside, Wipro, Infosys, Shree Cements, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki and Nestle India were among the gainers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 2,778 shares ended lower while 710 closed higher on the BSE.