Equity markets: Reliance and Bharti Airtel spearhead sell-off as Sensex plummets 354 points

NEW DELHI: Selling pressure in key index components, including Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, and Maruti, caused the benchmark Sensex to fall 354 points on Monday, causing a retreat in the Indian stock market.

Due mostly to late-afternoon selling, the 30-share BSE Sensex finished the trading day down 354.21 points, or 0.49%, to settle at 71,731.42.

The index fluctuated during the day, peaking at 72,385.93 and falling to 71,602.14.
In the same vein, the larger Nifty index also declined, closing at 21,771.70 after losing 82.10 points, or 0.38%.
Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Maruti, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Technologies, Titan, Hindustan Unilever, JSW Steel, UltraTech Cement, State Bank of India, and Reliance Industries were identified as the main draggers among the notable Sensex components.
Conversely, Tata Motors saw a roughly 6% boost in value as the business reported a two-fold increase in net profit to Rs 7,100 crore for the December quarter. This news improved investor confidence.
Tata Steel, NTPC, Power Grid, Mahindra & Mahindra, Sun Pharma, and Tata Consultancy Services were among the other winners.
Tokyo completed the day higher on the Asian markets, but Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong closed down. The US markets closed positively on Friday, while European markets saw a little decline.
According to exchange statistics, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased stocks worth a net of Rs 70.69 crore on Friday, offering some relief from the overall market fall.