New Delhi, India (BBN)-The BSE benchmark Sensex fell over 350 points in the morning deals on Monday on the back of profit-booking after two-day 908 points rally.
The 50-share Nifty fell below its important psychological level of 8,250 led by losses in blue-chip stocks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro and Infosys, reports NDTV.
The Nifty rebounded in the last two trading sessions after falling below 8,000 levels on Thursday but succumbed to profit-booking on Tuesday.
Market participants would closely watch out for the macro-economic data as the government would be releasing its March index of industrial production (IIP) and April consumer price index (CPI) numbers later in the day.
Analysts polled by NDTV expect April CPI cooling down to 4.9 per cent from 5.2 per cent in March. On the IIP front, analysts expect March IIP to slow down to 3.8 per cent versus 5 per cent in February.
Meanwhile, selling pressure was visible across the sectors. Banking, capital goods, auto, oil & gas, realty and consumer durable stocks were among the worst hit.
The banking sub-index on the National Stock Exchange, Bank Nifty fell over nearly 2 per cent led by losses in banking counters such as Bank of Baroda, Federal Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank and HDFC Bank were among the prominent laggards.
From the Nifty-50 basket of stocks, 45 stocks were declining while 5 were advancing. Bank of Baroda which rose over 18 per cent yesterday was the top loser on the Nifty, down 4.4 per cent. Vedanta, PNB, UltraTech Cement, Ambuja Cements and Tata Motors were also trading weaker by over 2-3 per cent each.
The broader markets were also facing the heat of selling pressure. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices were down over 1 per cent each.
AT 9:41 a.m., the Sensex fell 309 points to 27,198 and the Nifty was down 101 points at 8,224.