Sensex drops 740 pts from day's high; auto, tech stocks post strong gains

Gains in global equities saw the benchmark indices moving up as much as 2 per cent intra-day on Monday. However,  the sharp sell-off in banking stocks amid a spike in government yields resulted in the indices erasing all the gains to end marginally lower. 

Markets couldn't hold the strength during the day as selling pressure was witnessed in heavy index, erasing majority of gains in the afternoon session as Covid-19-related one-time provisioning was seen undercutting the earnings on the financial firms, he added.

 

 

After gaining 659 points, the Sensex ended the session 81 points lower at 31,561. The Nifty index closed at 9,239, down 12 points.

Banking stocks led by HDFC Bank came off sharply from their day’s high. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC, and Kotak Bank fell in the range between 5.2 per cent and 1.4 per cent, and had a nearly 250-point negative contribution to the Sensex. 

Automobile and technology stocks, on the other hand, posted strong gains. Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto and Maruti gained 6 per cent each.