The Sensex on Monday closed over 16 points lower with investors turning cautious after the first phase of voting in Lok Sabha election got under way, amid weakness in global equities.
The 30-share barometer commenced stable but soon selling pressure emerged in realty, consumer durables and power shares. The bellwether index was down over 160 points by mid-session at 22,197.51.
Buying in select stocks later helped the index recover most of the losses and end the day at 22,343.45, only 16.05 points or 0.07% lower than its previous close. This is the third straight day of the Sensex recording losses. The NSE wide-based 50-issue CNX Nifty closed at 6,695.05, 0.70 points higher than weekend close.
Sun Pharmaceutical, which in the morning announced that it will fully acquire rival Ranbaxy Laboratories in an all-stock transaction valued at $3.2 billion, emerged as the top Sensex gainer with a rise of 2.68%.
Ranbaxy Laboratories, which resumed up by a huge 9.89% to a new 52-week high of R505 a share, settled the day falling 3.12% on heavy profit-booking. ?The benchmarks were seen ending on flattish note after two days of successive decline. With the start of Lok Sabha voting process, excessive rise in volatility was witnessed indicating a building caution among investors,” said Jayant Manglik, president, retail distribution, Religare Securities.
State-owned power equipment maker BHEL was the top loser from the Sensex pack at 3.32%. The company reported weak results on provisional basis for 2013-14. Other losers were Cipla at 1.84%, ICICI Bank 1.73%, Dr Reddy’s Lab 1.64%, Maruti Suzuki 1.20%, NTPC 0.83% and Axis Bank 0.75%.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors bought shares worth R232.46 crore last Friday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Most Asian stocks fell in the aftermath of a mostly disappointing US jobs report. Key indices in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan ended lower by 0.14-1.69%. Indices in South Korea and China moved up by 0.08-0.74%.
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) will remain closed on Tuesday on account of ?Ram Navmi?.