Stocks end lower in volatile trade, metal and realty scrips drag

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices closed with marginal cuts on Monday, dragged down by metal, realty and auto stocks.

A delay in monsoon, weak global cues, and rise in oil prices dampened the market sentiment further.

The BSE S&P Sensex closed 72 points lower at 39,123 while the Nifty 50 was down 24 points at 11,700. At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), most sectoral indices were in the negative zone.

The nifty metal was down 1.3 percent, realty by 0.9 percent and auto by 0.46 percent.

Among stocks, JSW Steel slipped 3.4 percent while Tata Steel was down 2.36 percent. Eicher Motors showed a loss of 3.27 percent while Bajaj Auto was dipped 2.14 percent. ONGC also suffered a loss of over 3 percent.

Two- and three-wheeler manufacturers are resisting the government’s plan to an internal combustion engine -powered vehicles of less than 150 cc by 2023 and 2025 respectively and replace them with electric vehicles.

The other losers were mining major Vedanta, Tech Mahindra, Britannia, and Dr. Reddy. However, shares of Suzlon Energy surged 9.45 percent after reports that the company has told Brookfield to acquire a majority stake in it.

Meanwhile, Asian stock markets were mixed as investors monitored developments in the Middle East where the geopolitical situation is worsening by the day.

Traders also awaited an expected meeting between US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping later this week on the sidelines of G-20 summit in Japan.

[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]