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The benchmark Sensex fell nearly 200 points and the NSE Nifty ended below the 8,600-mark due to caution ahead of the federal budget, while the risk sentiment was hit as Asian shares fell on worries over US President Donald Trump's immigration policy.
There was little impact from the Economic Survey by the Finance Ministry forecasting India's economy would grow by between 6.75 and 7.5 percent in the coming fiscal year.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended lower by 193.60 points or 0.7 per cent at 27,655.96 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed down 71.45 points or 0.83 per cent at 8,561.30.
Barring FMCG, all BSE sectoral indices ended in the red. Among them, IT index fell the most by 2.96 per cent, followed by TECk 2.49 per cent, oil & gas 1.64 per cent and PSU 1.39 per cent, while FMCG index was up 0.04 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were ITC (+0.84%), Power Grid (+0.76%), Bajaj Auto (+0.44%), ONGC (+0.25%) and HUL (+0.19%), while the major losers were TCS (-4.47%), GAIL (-3.41%), Adani Ports (-3.23%), Sun Pharma (-2.06%) and Infosys (-2.01%).
US visa rules
IT stocks slumped on worries of stricter H-1B visa rules. The Nifty IT index fell as much as 5.41 per cent to its lowest since November 24, 2016. Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd were among the top losers.
Idea Cellular Ltd gained as much as 14.3 per cent to a more than six-month high after Vodafone Group had said on Monday it was in talks to merge its Indian unit with Idea.
Oil and Natural Gas Corp rose as much as 4.93 per cent to its highest since June 2015 after the company received first instalment from Venezuela towards recovering pending dividend.
Union Budget
The Union Government is then due to present its 2017/18 Budget on Wednesday, less than three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bold and risky gamble to outlaw high-value old currency notes.
Sentiment remained conspicuously cautious as investors preferred to reduce their positions ahead of the Union Budget tomorrow.
A subdued trend in Asia coupled with a decline on the Wall Street after President Donald Trump’s controversial crackdown on immigration and his plans to overhaul work-visa programmes dampened the domestic sentiment.
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