Sensex Plunges 333 Points, Nifty Settles Below 11,600

Domestic equity indices reversed gains to finish sharply lower on Monday, amid concerns over tighter rules on foreign funds. The S&P BSE Sensex dropped 332.55 points or 0.86 per cent to close at 38,312.52. The broader Nifty50 slipped 98.15 points or 0.84 per cent to settle at 11,582.35. That marked a fourth straight session of lower closing for the domestic stock markets. Widespread selling in FMCG, realty, power and banking stocks amid prevailing weakness in the rupee dragged the indices lower on Monday. Both indices recorded the biggest single day fall since August 2, when the BSE had lost 356.46 points and the NSE Nifty 101.50.

Major losers on Sensex pack in the session were Hindustan Unilever (-4.58%), Power Grid (-2.92%), Axis Bank (-2.69%), ICICI Bank (-2.51%), ITC (-2.01%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-2.00%). Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank and ITC were among main contributors to the losses in Sensex. Main laggards on Nifty pack were Bajaj Finance (-4.78%), Hindustan Unilever (-4.51%), Power Grid (-3.62%), Axis Bank (-2.86%) and ITC (-2.61%).

A group of fund managers raised fresh concerns over an April circular from market regulator Sebi related to tighter rules on foreign funds ownership by entities of Indian origin, which they said could lead to massive dollar outflows from the economy. The Asset Manager's Roundtable of India, a body of asset managers, said these restrictions will put on $75 billion worth of foreign funds. 

The rupee collapsed to a new lifetime low of 71.10 in intra-day trade today, raising concerns on the macroeconomic front. Country's manufacturing sector activity also eased for the second consecutive month in August.

"GDP (Gross Domestic Product) data numbers are quite positive which led to early gains in domestic indices today. However, profit-booking, amid selling in banking stocks and weak global cues pulled the key domestic indices lower in later trade today", said Siddharth Sedani, vice president, equity advisor, Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers, told NDTV.

Weakening global cues, triggered by continuing trade war spats also impacted sentiment. Asian stocks dropped for the third consecutive session on Monday, hit by worries over further escalation of the US-China trade war and unstable emerging market currencies. 

On the other hand, major gainers in the 30-share Sensex pack in the session were  Wipro (+2.49%), Bajaj Auto (+0.68%), HDFC Bank (+0.58%), Sun Pharma (+0.57%), Coal India (+0.47%) and Vedanta (+0.44%). Dr Reddy's (+3.85%), Wipro (+2.62%), Eicher Motors (+2.34%), Titan (+2.20%) and Hindustan Petroleum (+1.26%) led the pack of Nifty gainers.

Shares of software major Wipro Ltd rose as much as 8 per cent on Monday in their biggest intraday gain since July 2013 after the company said on Sunday it had won a contact worth more than $1.5 billion (Rs. 10,500 crore ) from US-based Alight Solutions LLC. 

GDP data released after market hours on Friday showed that India's economy grew 8.2 per cent in the April-June period. That marked the highest level of economic growth recorded since the January-March period in 2016. (With inputs from agencies)