Shares ended down on Monday, retreating from a three-month closing high last week, as investors shunned blue chips a day ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament where key reforms such as land acquisition Bill are expected to be presented.

Foreign investors, key behind Indian stocks hitting record high in March, are most concerned about the fate of national tax and land acquisition reforms in the upcoming session of parliament.

The Government, despite fierce opposition, has not given up on making it easier to acquire land needed to kick-start hundreds of billions of dollars in stalled projects, but after failing to win support in Parliament may ask states to pass their own laws.

Stock falls also tracked the losses of Asian markets, where the dollar held firm as investors looked ahead to higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve, while gold slumped to five-year lows.

"Unless there is clarity on reform proposals investors are not keen to pump in new money," said Deven Choksey, managing director at KR Choksey Securities.

The BSE 30-share index Sensex ended 0.15 per cent lower or 43.19 points at 28,420.12 while the NSE Nifty lost 6.40 points or 0.07 per cent to 8,603.45.

PNB was the top loser in the Nifty 50, down 2.80% at Rs 140.75. It was followed by Bank of Baroda (-2.24% at Rs 152.75), Cairn (-2.08% at Rs 167.02), ACC (-2.01% at Rs 1,456) and Tata Motors (-1.88% at Rs 390.55).

Fall in banking shares weiged on the index. ICICI Bank ended lower by 0.58 per cent at Rs 315. Housing Development Finance Corp 0.74 per cent at Rs 1,316.85 and Axis Bank by 0.37 per cent at Rs 599.85.

Consumer goods stocks such as ITC fell 0.42 per cent to Rs 320.95 while Hindustan Unilever shed 1.2 per cent to Rs 913.

Federal Bank shares lost 6.7 per cent due to weak first-quarter earnings.

Top Nifty gainers : UltraTech Cement (4.1%), Asian Paints (3.12%), BPCL (2.7%), Grasim (1.98%) and Idea Cellular (1.82%).

Brokers said besides profit booking by retail investors and funds after three sessions of gains, a mixed trend in global markets led to decline in domestic stocks.

Vikas Singhania, Executive Director, Trade Smart Online, a discount broking firm, said: "Near term major trigger for the market is the June 2015 quarter corporate earnings. Big index heavyweight companies including Infosys, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Idea Cellular, Asian Paints Bajaj Auto, Lupin, and Wipro, Axis Bank and Reliance Industries are next to announce their earnings. Of course, the focus will be on guidance from the company managements on outlook for the remaining part of the year and for the next year. The NDA government will introduce eight new bills and take up 11 pending bills, including the controversial Land bill and the GST bill, for consideration and passage. The progress of monsoon rains will also dictate trend on the bourses in the near term."

Apart from that, a cautious stance by participants ahead of the quarterly earnings by several bluechip companies including Infosys and RIL, to be released this week, influenced sentiments, they said.

Global markets

European shares edged higher on Monday, closing in on fresh six week highs, with Greece fears receding further as the country's banks re-opened and with Dutch chemical firm OCI surging on merger talks.

Hong Kong stocks ended Monday mixed, as investors awaited fresh direction from mainland markets after they seemed to stabilise. The Hang Seng index was unchanged at 25,404.81, while the China Enterprises Index lost 0.6 per cent, to 11,773.92 points.

China stocks erased early losses and ended Monday higher, after the country's securities regulator reaffirmed its support for the market, denying a media report that the government was studying how to end its bailout.

The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 0.2 per cent, to 4,160.61, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.9 per cent, to 3,992.11 points.

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