After posting positive gains for the fourth consecutive week, investors took to profit booking on Monday as key equity indices after trading in a range closed the day in the negative terrain. The 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed the day at 17,490.90 points losing 109.22 points or 0.62% while the broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) lost 35.95 points or 0.69% before closing the day at 5,192.25 points.

A head of research of a leading brokerage said, After surging for the entire April, profit booking was on the cards. Investors resorted to booking their profits at every high and markets are facing resistance at these levels, hinting towards reluctance in the minds of investors that the pull back seen in the recent past is difficult to last long. Markets are expected to remain low for the entire week.

However, some buying was witnessed in the small and the mid cap stocks, as respective indices representing the sectors managed to outperform the benchmark index.

The BSE Small cap index closed at 8,845.35 points gaining 23.64 points or 0.27% while the Mid cap index ended the day at 7,299.26 points adding 61.79 points or 0.85%.

Amongst the sectoral stocks Auto, Consumer Durable (CD) and IT stocks, which had rallied for the entire last week witnessed more profit booking as compared to other sectoral indices.