Nifty faces the brunt of Monday blues

The Nifty fell sharply on the first day of the week as traders took fright from a sustained sell-off in China due to slowing growth and investors shied away on news that the government may tighten regulations governing the flow of overseas funds into Indian equities.

The Nifty plunged 162 points to end the day at 8,359 points, closing below its 200-day moving average which is a key support level for the bulls . Its Advance-Decline Ratio stood at 5/45 with Tata Steel, Hero Motors and Hindalco leading the loser's list. On the gainers side were Tech Mahindra, ahead of its earnings, Zee Entertainment and Bajaj Auto.

The Bank Nifty lost 400 points to close at 18,235 points. All other sectoral indices posted losses, except for the CNX Media Index.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Sensex lost 551 points to close the day at 27,561 points. Axis Bank, ONGC and Bharti were the top losers on the Index, while Bajaj Auto and TCS were the only two stocks that rose. As a consequence, the Advance-Decline Ratio on the Sensex stood at 2/28.

Tata Motors came under sustained punishment as a large chunk of its unit JLR's annual sales come from China. Tata Motors lost 4 percent in trade today.

Bears regained overall control on Dalal Street with 1,736 shares falling versus 1,084 that gained ground.

The day was bearish as well in the derivatives space. Infrastructure, Metals and Banking sectors were the worst hit among 18 industries in both price and open interest. The Advance-Decline Ratio was 21/140 in the futures and Options market.

Stocks that hit fresh 52 week highs were HPCL, Britannia and Granules India.

Despite the gloom there were some earnings related bright spots in trade today: Pipes maker Jindal SAW, Tyre maker MRF and Geometric Software outshone peers and came up with stellar set of numbers to close sharply higher on Monday. However, there were disappointments in the form of Century Textiles and Coromandel International, where earnings were sharply lower.

(Image credits: Indiatimes)