Mumbai, India (BBN) - The Nifty and the Sensex were trading lower after four straight sessions of gains due to caution ahead of the federal budget, while broader sentiment was also hit by fears about the impact of US President Donald Trump's immigration curbs.
The Union Government is due to present its 2017/18 Budget on Wednesday, with shares last week posting their biggest weekly gains in eight months on hopes the Government will announce incentives to ease the impact from a bold and risky gamble to outlaw high-value old currency bills, reports The Hindu Business Line.
But further caution set in on Monday, especially as Asian shares fell on worries that Trump's ban on the entry of refugees into the US would prove destabilising for the rest of the world.
President Donald Trump introduced immigration curbs that sparked criticism at home and abroad, adding to fears that his ‘America First’ policy may prove destabilising for the rest of the world.
Trump had on Friday put a 120-day hold on allowing refugees into the country, an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria and a 90-day bar on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
At 12:30pm., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 15.82 points or 0.06 per cent at 27,866.64 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 9.8 points or 0.11 per cent at 8,631.45.
Among BSE sectoral indices, IT index fell the most by 0.79 per cent, followed by auto 0.66 per cent, consumer durables 0.52 per cent and oil & gas 0.35 per cent.
On the other hand, realty index was up 1.02 per cent, healthcare 0.61 per cent, capital goods 0.44 per cent and FMCG 0.23 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Bharti Airtel (+4.28 per cent), Sun Pharma (+1.69 per cent), Dr Reddy's (+1.31 per cent), Reliance (+0.67 per cent) and Lupin (+0.67 per cent), while the major losers were Tata Motors (-1.48 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (-1.4 per cent), Wipro (-1.37 per cent), Tata Steel (-1.27 per cent) and TCS (-1.19 per cent).
IT stocks contributed to a majority of the losses on the NSE index. The Nifty IT index fell 1.15 per cent, dragged down by Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd , which lost over 1.4 percent each.
Investors also booked profits in recent outperformers: the Nifty bank index, which led gains last week, fell 0.4 per cent, dragged down by HDFC Bank Ltd and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.
The index had gained 4.72 per cent last week.
“Markets are a little wary of what lies in the budget and have probably have rallied too far on the assumption that some good is in the offing,” said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice-president of research at SMC Global Securities.
A report by IFA Global said: "Asian stock markets are trading in the red, with Hang Seng index trading lower by 13 points and Nikkei index is trading lower by 144 points as investors eye the international backlash against US President Donald Trump's immigration policy, which has added pressure on the dollar.
US stock markets closed on a mixed note. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 7 points and Nasdaq index closed higher by 5 points.
US equities closed on a mixed note after US President Donald Trump on Friday introduced immigration curbs that sparked a backlash in the United States and abroad.
European stock markets closed on a flat note, with FTSE closed higher by 23 points and CAC lower by 27 points.
European markets ended the day lower after strong gains earlier this week, with investors digesting corporate earnings and fluctuations in currency markets."
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