Sensex Falls Over 150 Points, Nifty Slides Below 12,250

Domestic stock markets started Monday's session on a lacklustre note amid volatile trade as Asian peers held near 18-month highs. The S&P BSE Sensex fell as much as 155.69 points to 41,525.85 in early trade before paring some of those losses, and the broader NSE Nifty benchmark slipped to as low as 12,229.30, down 42.5 points from the previous close. Gains in IT, pharma and metal shares were offset by losses in energy stocks.

At 9:56 am, the Sensex traded 17.36 points - or 0.04 per cent - lower at 41,664.18 while the Nifty was up 3.65 points at 12,275.45.

Thirty six stocks on the 50-scrip index traded higher at the time.

Top percentage gainers on the Nifty were UPL, Zee Entertainment, Bharat Petroleum, Vedanta and JSW Steel, up between 1.66 per cent and 2.91 per cent.

On the other hand, top Nifty laggards were Reliance Industries, Coal India, Nestle, HDFC Bank and Power Grid, down between 0.24 per cent and 2.18 per cent.

Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and HDFC were the top drags on Sensex.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was steady after rising 1.4 per cent last week and over 5 per cent so far this month.

Japan's Nikkei climbed 0.1 per cent after reaching a 14-month top last week. It was ahead by 2.3 per cent for the month so far.

Fitch Ratings on Friday cut its growth forecast for India to 4.6 per cent for the current financial year from the previous estimation of 5.6 per cent after factoring in significant deceleration in past few quarters due to credit squeeze and deterioration in business and consumer confidence.

The S&P BSE Sensex index had ended 7.62 points higher at 41,681.54 on Friday and the broader NSE Nifty benchmark settled up 12.10 points at 12,271.80, as the markets gave up most of intraday gains but still managed to register record closing highs.