Sensex drops over 100 points; bank, auto stocks fall

Mumbai: After posting robust gains on Friday, post Interim Budget announcements, markets opened lost its steam on Monday.

The 30-share index was trading 109.53 points, or 0.30 percent, lower at 36,359.90 amidst selloff in banking, auto and metal stocks. Similarly, the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 31.75 points, or 0.29 percent, to 10,861.90.

Top gainers in the Sensex pack include ONGC, RIL, HCL Tech, Vedanta, HUL, Coal India, HDFC Bank, HDFC, TCS and Infosys, rising up to 2.39 percent.

On the other hand, Yes Bank, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, M&M, PowerGrid and Tata Motors were the top losers, falling up to 3.15 percent.

On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 1,315.89 crore Friday, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 5.07 crore, provisional data available with BSE showed.

Asian stocks hovered near four-month highs on Monday after a mixed performance on Wall Street at the close of last week, a Reuters report said.

MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was almost flat. China`s financial markets are closed all week, while those in South Korea are shut until Thursday. Hong Kong`s Hang Seng, which is trading for only half a day, edged up 0.2 percent. Japan`s Nikkei added 0.5 percent.

With Agency Inputs