Benchmark indices continued to trade lower on Monday. Midcaps underperformed, with the Nifty Midcap index declining more than 1% on weak market breadth.

Benchmark indices extended losses in afternoon trade, with the Sensex falling over 250 points amid political uncertainties, and also heavy selling pressure that was witnessed in metals, banking, oil and gas stocks, media and IT stocks. Earlier today, the Nifty index dropped below 200-DMA.

Market sentiment was largely subdued ahead of US Federal Reserve’s two-day meet.

At 2:04 PM, the BSE Sensex was trading at 32,922, down 254 points, while the Nifty50 index was trading at 10,099, down 95 points.

The BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap indices down by 1.64% and 2.04%, respectively.

Shares of Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp fell 4% each after a media report said both the companies are set to buy 26% stake each in GAIL India from the government.

Shares of Shilpa Medicare rallied 6% as EIR issued by USFDA for its Telangana facility.

Shares of Gateway Distriparks down 1%, extending after the foreign portfolio investor (FPI) Morgan Stanley reduced its stake in the company through the open market.

Lupin stock added 1%. The pharma company has received final approval for its Desoximetasone Topical spray, 0.25%, 30 ml, 50 ml, and 100 ml from the USFDA to market.

Volatility index India VIX was up 4.02% to 15.8325.

Power Grid (+1.5%), NTPC (+1.4%), HUL (+1%), Maruti (+0.85%) and Lupin (+0.61%) were the top gainers on Nifty50.

Hindalco (-3.8%), BPCL (-3.8%), IOC (-3.6%), Tata Steel (-3.7%) and Tech Mahindra (-3.5%) were the top losers in today’s trade.

Out of 2,031 stocks traded on the NSE, 241 advanced, 1,483 declined and 307 remained unchanged today.

A total of eight stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trade today, while 98 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

source: indiainfoline.com