The Sensex and the Nifty fell nearly 0.4 per cent at the closing session on Monday on heavy selling in realty, oil & gas and FMCG stocks amid firm European cues.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex fell 98.15 points to end at 26,752.90 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty fell 22.85 points to close at 7,991.70.

Among BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables index was the star-performer and was up 2.11 per cent, followed by capital goods 0.7 per cent, banking 0.48 per cent and power 0.47 per cent. On the other hand, realty index plunged the most by 3.79 per cent, followed by oil & gas 1.45 per cent, FMCG 1.06 per cent and India infrastructure index 0.88 per cent.

BHEL, Dr Reddy's, GAIL, Coal India and Tata Power were the top five Sensex gainers, while the top five losers were HUL, Tata Motors, ONGC, Tata Steel and Hindalco.

Regulatory probes

Shares of companies facing regulatory probes led the Sensex downtrend.

DLF shares were down 7.84 per cent on concerns that the company may face a probe by the new Government in Haryana.

Jindal Steel and Power was down 7.9 per cent following reports that the CBI has started a fresh inquiry against unknown officials of the company for alleged diversion of forest land in Jharkhand for mining purposes.

Cairn India fell 3.65 per cent as Brent crude dropped below $86 after Goldman Sachs cut its price forecasts. Investors were worried as lower crude oil prices can hit the revenues of oil explorers.

Defence equipment makers rally

Shares of companies involved in defence sector rallied as much as 8.6 per cent today after projects worth Rs 80,000 crore were cleared by the government.

Defence projects worth Rs 80,000 crore were cleared by the Government on Saturday which decided that six submarines will be made indigenously and over 8,000 Israeli anti-tank guided missiles and 12 upgraded Dornier surveillance aircraft will be purchased.

Bharat Electronics was up 0.39 per cent and BEML gained 4.98 per cent. Bharat Heavy Electricals was up 4.98 per cent, and Larsen and Toubro gained 0.48 per cent.

European shares

Euro zone banks led European shares higher on Monday after the results of sector-wide financial health checks painted a brighter picture than many investors had expected.

The Euro STOXX banking index rose 1.1 per cent after Sunday's European Central Bank review concluded that capital holes identified at the end of last year had since then chiefly been plugged, leaving only a relatively €10 billion to be raised.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 0.7 per cent at 1,321.20 points at 0823 GMT.

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