Sensex, Nifty Suffer 4th Straight Loss In Line With Weak Global Cues; Gold Prices Decline Rs 212

Domestic equity gauges Sensex and Nifty logged their fourth straight session of fall on Monday as participants remained cautious over lingering geopolitical tensions in eastern Europe.

Tracking deep losses on Asian bourses, the BSE Sensex dived around 700 points in the opening session but staged a recovery to briefly trade in the positive zone as market jitters were calmed by hopes of talks between the US and Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

The Sensex finally ended 149.38 points or 0.26 per cent lower to settle at 57,683.59, while the broader NSE Nifty slipped 69.65 points or 0.40 per cent to 17,206.65.

Of the Sensex constituents, 21 shares ended in the red, with Sun Pharma, TCS and ITC emerging as top laggards.

In contrast, IT majors Wipro and Infosys were major gainers.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses ended lower but pared deep losses suffered in their opening session on reports of a likely meeting between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Biden has agreed "in principle" to a meeting with Putin as long as that country holds off on what US officials believe is an imminent assault on Ukraine.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration has been clear that "we are committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins."

Continuing their selling spree, foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 2,529.96 crore in the Indian capital markets on Friday, exchange data showed.

Rupee Extends Gains For 5th Day, Rises By 11 Paise As Dollar, Crude Weaken

Rising for the fifth straight day, the rupee extended gains by 11 paise to close at 74.55 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday on the back of a weak dollar and softer crude oil prices amid hopes of a diplomatic solution to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The local unit opened strong at 74.51 to a dollar and later spurted to the day's high of 74.35 as crude oil traded below USD 95 per barrel.

The rupee later gave up some of the gains due to losses in the domestic equity markets and forex outflows, before finally finishing at 74.55.

The local currency had closed at 74.66 against the greenback on Friday.

"Rupee traded strong near 74.55 as dollar index weakness keep strength in rupee. Crude prices took a halt and trading below USD 95 has cheered the rupee market," said Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities.

Meanwhile, the dollar index eased by 0.26 per cent to 95.79 after reports of a likely summit between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Ukrainian border crisis.

Brent crude also traded down at USD 93.51 per barrel on hopes of a diplomatic solution to the Russia-Ukraine stalemate.

Gold Prices Decline Rs 212; Silver Down By Rs 480

Gold prices on Monday declined by Rs 212 to Rs 49,827 per 10 gram in the national capital, in line with selling in the overseas markets, along with a rupee appreciation, according to HDFC Securities.

The yellow metal had closed at Rs 50,039 per 10 gram in the previous trade.

Silver tumbled by Rs 480 to Rs 63,329 per kg, compared with the previous close of Rs 63,809.

HDFC Securities Senior Analyst (Commodities) Tapan Patel said, "Spot gold prices for 24 carat gold in Delhi fell Rs 212 in line with selling at COMEX gold prices along with rupee appreciation."

In the international market, gold was trading lower at USD 1,893 an ounce while silver was also marginally down at USD 23.78 an ounce.

"Gold prices traded weak with spot gold prices at COMEX trading marginally down near USD 1,893 per ounce on Monday," Patel said.