Indian markets see steepest monthly drop since Nov 2011

Benchmark share indices ended lower, amid weak global cues, as investors booked profits in index heavyweights, while the weak rupee also weighed on market sentiment. The 30-share Sensex ended down 109 points at 29,283 and the 50-share Nifty closed 31 points lower at 7,971. For August, the S&P BSE Sensex recorded its worst monthly fall since November 2011, amid worries over slowdown in the Chinese economy and prospects of a rate rise by the US central bank.

The S&P BSE Sensex shed 6.5 per cent, its sharpest monthly fall since November 2011 when the benchmark had declined 8.9 per cent in a single month. In May 2012, the benchmark index had dropped 6.4 per cent.

In the broader markets, the BSE Mid-cap index and Small-cap index ended down 0.2 per cent each. Market breadth ended weak with 1,490 losers and 1,169 gainers on the BSE.

"Markets are getting volatile on concerns that are going on globally and global stocks continue to remain weak. There are no near term catalysts for the markets to go either ways. Traders are unwilling to extend their positions in light of volatility," said Vaibhav Sanghavi, managing director, Ambit Investment Advisors.

Weakness was seen across Asian and Europe, as investors shunned riskier assets because of slowing growth in China and expectations of a rate hike by the US Fed. Major Asian stock markets ended lower with the Nikkei ended down 1.3 per cent, while Shanghai Composite ended 0.8 per cent lower and Straits Times eased 0.75 per cent. However, Hong Kong's benchmark index Hang Seng ended up 0.3 per cent.

Among the index heavyweights, Reliance Industries and Infosys were down over 1.2 per cent each. Select financials also witnessed profit taking after gains in the previous session. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and HDFC were down 0.5-1 per cent each. Bharti Airtel was down 2.5 per cent, while Idea Cellular is marginally up. Both the telecom majors have hiked charges for their post-paid users by around 20 per cent in various circles.

Bharti Infratel up 2.5%
Shares of Bharti Infratel on Monday ended 2.5 per cent higher at Rs 399.55. The stock had rallied nearly 12 per cent to hit an intra-day high of Rs 435 during early trading hours.

The stock had however underperformed the markets on Friday, due to the share sale from a Temasek arm and ended at Rs 389.65.  

According to filing on the BSE, Compassvale Investments Pte Limited, an arm of international investment company Temasek, on Friday sold more than 1.73 crore shares of Bharti Infratel at Rs 380.04. The stake sale was pegged at Rs 660 crore.

The investment company Compassvale Investments had bought shares of Bharti Infratel when it launched its IPO in 2012.

Some market participants attributed today's surge in Bharti Infratel due to the huge share sale out of the way.

Another contributing factor boosting Bharti Infratel shares, was the international brokerage, CLSA report that has maintained "buy" on the stock.

The report had cited that the tower company has been gaining market share. CLSA's target price of Rs 520 is 25 per cent higher than the current levels. The stock is second-best performer on MSCI Asia-Pacific Index.