Mumbai, Aug. 31 -- Stock markets closed lower on Monday amid selling in utilities, IT, and FMCG shares, as renewed tensions in West Asia pushed crude oil higher and fanned fears of a higher-interest-rate environment.
The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 307.24 points, or 0.40 per cent, to settle at 76,957.27 with 20 of its constituents ending lower and 10 with gains.
The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 95.25 points, or 0.39 per cent, to end at 24,080.40.
Weak trends in global markets and foreign fund outflows dented investor sentiment, analysts said.
Among the 30 Sensex firms, Adani Ports fell the most by 4.11 per cent, followed by HDFC Bank, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Trent, Hindustan Unilever and Titan.
Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and State Bank of India (SBI) were among the gainers.
The BSE SmallCap Select index declined 0.40 per cent and MidCap Select index dipped 0.12 per cent.
Among BSE sectoral indices, Utilities tanked 2.64 per cent, Metal (2.42 per cent), Services (1.95 per cent), Commodities (1.52 per cent), Housing Finance (1.33 per cent), Power (1.31 per cent) and FMCG (1.14 per cent).
Financial Services, Private Banks index, Bankex, Top 10 Banks and MidSmall Private Banks ended higher.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 5,039.80 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.