The Sensex and the Nifty fell nearly 0.6 per cent at the closing session on Monday on heavy selling in realty, metal and oil & gas stocks amid mixed European cues.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended at 25,991.23, down 135.52 points and the 50-share NSE index ended at 7,742.05, down 48.4 points.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty (down 2.69 per cent), metal (- 1.51 per cent), oil & gas ( - 1.29 per cent) and auto ( - 0.78 per cent) indices succumbed to heavy selling pressure. On the other hand, consumer durables, FMCG, IT and TECk indices remained investors' favourite and were up 0.57 per cent, 0.38 per cent, 0.37 per cent and 0.18 per cent, respectively.

HUL, Sun Pharma, BHEL, Wipro and Tata Power were the major Sensex gainers, while the major losers were Coal India, Hindalco, Tata Steel, RIL and Tata Motors.

Selling pressure was witnessed ahead of monthly expiry of derivative contract on July 31.

Also, investors were keeping an eye on the progress of monsoon, earnings numbers of companies, foreign portfolio flows, oil prices and movement of rupee against the dollar this week. With the RBI’s next monetary policy meeting scheduled for August 5, interest rates and inflation will also be in focus.

Rajesh Agarwal of Eastern Financiers in a report said: "The markets are expected to start the week on a subdued note due to profit-booking by investors.The services PMI numbers would be declared on the last trading day of the week which is expected to impact the Indian bourses near the close of the week. The Indian bourses are also likely to be impacted by the important result announcements during the week. ICICI Bank, NTPC, Bajaj Corp, JSW Steel, Bank of Baroda, Dabur India, Hindustan Unilever, L&T, UPL, Bharti Airtel, IDFC, ITC, Ranbaxy, CESC, Container Corp, Dr Reddys Lab, DLF, HDIL HCL Tech and Aban Offshore, are expected to declare their Q1 FY15 earnings this week. The markets will be closely watching the macro developments in US and Europe. Overall, we expect markets to hover in the green zone during the week with its fair share of volatility."

Market participants will also turn their focus on the companies’ monthly auto and cement sales numbers for the month of July. Besides, June HSBC Manufacturing PMI is also scheduled to be released on August 1.

European stocks were trading mixed, following a two-week advance, as investors weighed company earnings and data on American services and home sales. Most Asian were up.

The Federal Open Market Committee meeting scheduled for this week will be important for equity markets as it will give clues about the direction of US yields.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW