Sensex falls 225 points, Nifty dips below 17,500 — Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Infosys, M&M, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddy’s, Maruti and HDFC top losers

Equity benchmark Sensex fell 225 points at the opening of trade on Monday, following losses from major HDFC index twins Infosys and Maruti amid continued foreign outflows and a mixed trend in Asian stock markets.

The BSE gauge was trading 225.04 points or 0.38% lower at 58,419.78 at the start of trade. Likewise, the Clever fell 69.55 points or 0.40% to 17,446.75.

Bajaj Finance was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, losing almost 2%, followed by HDFC Bank, Infosys, M&M, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, Dr Reddy’s, Maruti and HDFC.

On the other hand, Tata Steel, PowerGrid, SBI and Trust Industries were among the winners.

In the previous session, the 30-stock index finished 143.20 points or 0.24% lower at 58,644.82. Similarly, the NSE Nifty lost 43.90 points or 0.25% to close at 17,516.30.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul were trading with losses in mid-term trading, while Shanghai was in the green.

Stock markets in the United States ended on a mixed note on Friday.

G-secs, forex and markets will remain closed on Monday, the RBI said after the Maharashtra government declared a public holiday to mourn the passing of legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Sunday announced the postponement of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) rate-setting meeting by one day ahead of Maharashtra’s declaration of a public holiday on February 7 for mourn the death of legendary singer Bharat Ratna Lata Mangechkar.

The MPC meeting was scheduled for February 7-9, 2022.

With the postponement, the meeting will now begin on February 8 and the outcome will be announced on February 10.

The international oil benchmark, Brent, fell 0.02% to $93.25 a barrel.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (REITs) withdrew as much as Rs 6,834 crore from Indian markets in the first four trading sessions of February.

According to data from custodians, REITs withdrew Rs 3,627 crore from equities, Rs 3,173 crore from the debt segment and Rs 34 crore from hybrid instruments.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market as they sold shares worth Rs 2,267.86 crore on Friday, according to stock market data.

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