Sensex closes 202 points down, Nifty ends at 12,045.80; Titan Company, Nestle, TCS gain

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Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices on Monday (February 17) continued their downfall with Nifty closing below 12,100 level. The Sensex was down 202.05 points at 41,055.69, while the broader Nifty ended 67.70 points down at 12,045.80. Among major gainers on the Nifty were Titan Company, Nestle, TCS, Tata Steel, and Vedanta, while top losers were Yes Bank, Coal India, GAIL, and ONGC.

About 832 shares advanced, 1684 shares declined, and 161 shares remain unchanged. 

During early hours on Monday, Equity benchmark indices were under pressure with investors eyeing banking and telecom stocks after the Supreme Court last week directed telcos to clear their dues totalling over Rs one lakh crore to the government by March 17.

At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex edged lower by 26 points to 41,231 while the Nifty 50 slipped by 7 points at 12,106. Most sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the red with Nifty PSU bank down by 1.57 per cent. 

Among stocks, Yes Bank was down by 2.8 per cent at Rs 37.80 per share while ICICI Bank dipped by 1.37 per cent and State Bank of India by 1.16 per cent.ONGC lost by 2.76 per cent after reporting 44 per cent decline in third-quarter net profit at Rs 5,384 crore. 

Other prominent losers were Bharat Petroleum Corporation, IndianOil Corporation, Coal India, Cipla, Adani Ports and Bajaj Finserv. However, GAIL, IndusInd Bank, Titan, Hindustan Lever and UPL gained by thin margins.

Meanwhile, Asian shares moved toward a three-week top as Chinese efforts to cushion the blow from a coronavirus outbreak cheered investors, but Japanese stocks faltered amid growing recession risks. 
Japan`s Nikkei stumbled by 0.7 per cent after the country`s economy shrank at the fastest pace in the December quarter since the second quarter of 2014.

MSCI`s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was firmer at 557.30. The gains were helped largely by Chinese shares with the blue-chip index adding 0.4 per cent after the country`s central bank lowered one of its key interest rates and injected more liquidity into the system. 

(With Agency Inputs)