In an extremely choppy session, equity benchmarks cut early gains on Monday to settle on a flat note, with the Sensex falling 38 points amid heavy selling in metal stocks.
The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was facing volatility during the day and closed 37.78 points or 0.07% lower at 54,288.61. During the day, it touched a high of 54,931.30 and a low of 54,191.55.
The broader NSE Nifty ended 51.45 points or 0.32% lower at 16,214.70.
Among Sensex firms, Tata Steel was the biggest loser at 12.53%, followed by UltraTech Cement, ITC, Power Grid, HDFC, HDFC Bank, HCL Technologies and Reliance Industries.
In contrast, M&M, Maruti, Hindustan Unilever, Larsen & Toubro, Asian Paints and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the gainers.
Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities said, “Nifty once again gave up intraday gains and ended in the negative. Metal stocks were sell-off following the imposition of export duty on iron ore and some steel intermediates over the weekend. “
Meanwhile, Asian markets in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo ended higher, while Hong Kong closed lower.
Equity exchanges in Europe were trading mostly in the afternoon session. The US stock markets closed with a mixed trend on Friday.
International oil benchmark Brent crude rose 1.15% to $113.8 a barrel.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth ₹1,265.41 crore on Friday, according to stock exchange data.