Closing Bell: Indian market extends fall for a fourth consecutive session

Continuing with its losing streak, the Indian equity market closed lower for the fourth consecutive trading session on Monday amid Russia-Ukraine tension and inflation concerns.

Domestic bourses extended their losing run for the fourth straight session led by weakness in metal and pharma stocks. Once again investors turned cautious as the Russia-Ukraine standoff continued to dampen risk sentiment. Both the benchmarks swung between gains and losses throughout the session before settling in red.

At the closing bell on February 21, the Sensex was down 149.38 points or 0.26% at 57,683.59, and the Nifty was down 69.60 points or 0.40% at 17,206.70. On the market breadth, around 678 shares have advanced, 2693 shares declined, and 116 shares were unchanged.

Top Nifty losers of the day were Coal India, Hindalco, UPL, ONGC and Adani Ports, while top gainers included Wipro, Infosys, Shree Cements, Power Grid Corp and ICICI Bank. In the top drags, Hindalco was the top Nifty loser as the stock cracked 3.38% to Rs 511.70. Also, Tata Consultancy Services shares slumped 1.96% ahead of the Rs 18,000 crore share buyback.

In the news today was the stock of Dhani Services Ltd, which fell over 14% after some users of the Dhani Loans and Services app complained about unknown parties misusing their PAN card details to seek loans on the platform.

On a sectoral basis, except bank, all other sectoral indices ended in red with capital goods, FMCG, metal, oil & gas, pharma, power, realty down 1-2%. In the broader market, BSE midcap and smallcap indices fell by 0.8-2.2%.

Also in the news today was Rishi Aggarwal, the former chairman and managing director (CMD) of ABG Shipyard Limited who reached the headquarter of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to join the ongoing investigation into the Rs 22,842 crore bank loan fraud.