Trading at the bourses was lacklustre on the first day of the week. The BSE Sensex moved just in 320-point range on Monday amid mixed global cues and corporate results. It closed with a loss of 123.53 points at 52,852.27. The Nifty50 index closed 31.60 points or 0.20 per cent lower at 15,824.45. Metal and consumer durable stocks managed gain even as banks, power, realty and auto lagged behind.

China spoils mood

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Monday with Japan and Vietnam ending in the green while China, Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan edged down sharply, as Chinese regulatory pressure on tech and education stocks. European stocks too opened in the negative on Monday.

"Indian market swung between gains and losses in today’s volatile trade reflecting weak global peers as investors await a slew of quarterly earnings. Chinese education, property, and tech sectors fell sharply after tighter government regulations. Globally, markets are awaiting the upcoming Fed meeting this week to have clarity regarding the timing of asset purchase tapering," said Vinod Nair, Head Of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

SBI Life, Bajaj Finserv, Hindalco, Divi's Lab, and UltraTech Cement were top gainers in Nifty50 while JSW Steel, Wipro, Reliance, SBI, and BPCL were leading the losers pack. Of the 50, only 20 stocks ended in the green.

Gainers lead decliners

The advance to decline ratio on the BSE was slightly in favour of gainers with 1,837 stocks advancing, 1,515 declining, and 157 remaining unchanged. As against 597 stocks that hit upper circuit, 292 touched lower circuit.

Bank stocks such as RBL Bank, Bandhan Bank, PNB, SBI, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, and ICICI Bank were down while Federal Bank, AU Small Finance Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IDFC First Bank edged up.

Among F&O stocks, Navin Fluorine, M&M Financial, APL, McDowell, Glenmark and GMR Infra were the top losers while Coromandel, Apollo Hospitals, Max Financial, SBI Life and Sun Tv edged up.

During the afternoon session markets swung between positive and negative territory with lacklustre trade as Traders were concerned as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded Indian equities to the tune of over Rs 5,689 crore in July so far as they continued to adopt a cautious stance in view of various domestic and global factors, said Narendra Solanki, Head- Equity Research (Fundamental), Anand Rathi Shares & Stock Brokers. "Also the European stocks were seen retreating as investors watch corporate earnings, Covid cases and German business sentiment, which fell unexpectedly in July as supply chain constraints, dampened recent optimism,” he added.

Sectoral performance

Among the sectoral stocks, BSE Consumer Durables, BSE Metal, Healthcare, and Information Technology edged up while BSE Energy, Auto, Realty, and Oil and Gas slipped.

The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices too closed flat but in the green.

The NSE Volatility index moved up 5.84 per cent at 12.45, as F&O expiry July series is expiring on Thursday.