Stock Market Closes Lower: Kotak Bank Plunges, FII Outflows Continue

Mumbai, Oct 21 (PTI) Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty gave up initial gains and ended lower on Monday tracking a sharp fall in Kotak Mahindra Bank and relentless foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share Sensex declined 73.48 points or 0.09 per cent to settle at 81,151.27. The barometer shot 545 points at the opening but succumbed to selling pressure later and hit a low of 80,811.23. The index gyrated 958.79 points between the day's high and the low level.

The NSE Nifty dipped 72.95 points or 0.29 per cent to 24,781.10.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Kotak Mahindra Bank tanked over 4 per cent after the company's quarterly earnings failed to cheer investors.

Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever and JSW Steel were the other big laggards.

HDFC Bank climbed nearly 3 per cent after the firm on Saturday reported a 6 per cent increase in September quarter net profit to Rs 17,825.91 crore on a consolidated basis.

On a standalone basis, the largest private sector lender's post-tax net grew to Rs 16,820.97 crore during the reporting period, as against Rs 15,976.11 crore in the year-ago period.

Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Maruti and Tech Mahindra were also among the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 5,485.70 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. However, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 5,214.83 crore.

In Asian markets, Tokyo and Hong Kong settled lower while Seoul and Shanghai ended higher.

European markets were trading lower. The US markets ended higher on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.04 per cent to USD 73.82 a barrel.

Recovering from its early lows, the BSE benchmark climbed 218.14 points or 0.27 per cent to settle at 81,224.75 on Friday. The Nifty ended 104.20 points or 0.42 per cent higher at 24,854.05.