Index-heavyweights drag markets; Sensex, Nifty lose 1%

Sensex and Nifty closed nearly 1 per cent lower on Monday owing to the sell-off in index-heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank and TCS over their weaker than expected quarterly results.

Sentiments were further hurt due to the 1 per cent rise in the oil prices on account of the supply concerns. According to reports, exports from Libya were blocked after a pipeline was shut down by armed forces.

The Sensex closed 416.46 points lower at 41,528.91 after hitting a record high of 42,273.87 earlier in the day. It managed to open higher at 42,263 on its Friday's close 41,945.37.The broader Nifty settled at 12,230.75 lower by 121.60 points.

Kotak Mahindra Bank declined over 4 per cent after it reported a standalone net profit at Rs 1,596 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2019 (Q3FY20), as against Rs 1,290.93 crore in the same quarter in a year-ago period.

Shrikant Chouhan of Kotak Securities said: "Despite the non-encouraging Q3 numbers from Index giants namely Reliance, HDFC BANK and TCS, the market had managed to open higher.A However, the higher opening got converted into hefty profit taking and that has triggered deep decline during the day".

Chouhan said the market fell mainly due to non-encouraging results from front line companies and also due to the overbought status of the market.
IANS