Sensex ends over 150 points lower, Nifty below 9,050; RIL down 3%

Nifty ended below 9,050 level dragged by fall in IT and pharma stocks on strong rupee

Benchmarks indices settled the day lower with the Nifty breaking 9,050 level dragged by fall in IT and pharma stocks on strong rupee. A weak monsoon forecast also affected the sentiment. Skymet Weather predicted that monsoon 2017 would be below normal with error margin of plus and minus 5%.
 
The S&P BSE Sensex settled the day at 29,237, down 184 points, while the broader Nifty50 ended at 9,045, down 62 points.
 
The broader market outperformed with the S&P BSE Midcap down 0.3%, while the S&P BSE Smallcap was little changed.

"Skymet’s below-normal forecast for south west monsoons, and Pharma’s continuing struggle has meant that  investors opted to look for deeper dips with especially with indices already near record peak. Losses were restricted though with firm rupee shoring up sentiments, signalling that FIIs are continuing to be buyers, especially with Trump facing legislative challenges,” said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services in a note.

 
The market breadth was in the negative as 1158 shares advanced against a decline of 1630 shares. About 231 shares were unchanged.
 
Meanwhile, the rupee hit a nearly 1-1/2 year high against the dollar on Monday, tracking gains in Asian currencies after US President Donald Trump's failure to pass a healthcare reform bill raised concerns about the chances of a US fiscal stimulus.
 
Sectors and Stocks
 
Tata Steel, RIL, Coal India, and Asian Paints were the top losers on BSE Sensex, while SBI, HDFC and PowerGrid gained marginally on the index.
 
The rally in the rupee sent IT shares lower, with Wipro down 1.8% and HCL Technologies down over 2%.

 
Drug makers also fell, with Lupin and Sun Pharma falling 1.2% and 1.9% respectively.
 
Reliance Industries fell 3% after Sebi accused co of having committed a "fraud" in taking a short trading position at the time of selling a stake in a unit in 2007.  It has also ordered Reliance Industries to surrender most of gains, plus interest; bars it from trading in derivatives for one year.
 
Coal India fell over 2% after the state-owned miner announced its second interim dividend of Rs 1.15/ share for current financial year as the dividend amount declared slightly less than market expectations.

 
Shares of GVK Power & Infrastructure advanced 6% at intraday after it completed the stake sale in Bangalore International Airport (BIAL). The stock was currently trading 2.9% higher.
 
GST Bill tabled in Parliament
 
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday tabled supplementary goods and services tax legislations in Parliament amid protests from the members of the Congress Party.
 
C-GST and GST Compensation Bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha today, paving the way for the government to launch the landmark tax reform. However, Congress said that it was not a part of the List of Business, hence it cannot be tabled.

 
The tax is expected to boost the rate of economic growth by about 0.5 percentage points, broaden the revenue base and cut compliance cost for firms.
 
These will then move to the Raj'ya Sabha and this gives the government enough time to bring back any amendment adopted by the Upper House to the Lok Sabha.
 
Global Markets
 
US equity index futures fell to a six-week low on Sunday in a sign Wall Street would start the week defensively after Republicans pulled legislation to overhaul the US healthcare system in a stunning setback for President Donald Trump.

 
S&P 500 e-mini futures ESv1 were down over 0.65%, shortly after electronic trading resumed on Sunday evening.
 
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1% after posting its first weekly decline last week in three weeks.
 
Japan's Nikkei fell 1.5% as the yen rebounded in the face of renewed US dollar weakness.
 
European shares fell in early deals on Monday, hit by losses among miners and banks after Donald Trump's failure to pass his healthcare bill raised worries over the his ability to deliver on fiscal stimulus plans.
 
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.7%, while UK's FTSE was down 0.8%.