Key Indian equity market indices ended in red on Monday as investors booked profits and maintained caution ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy review on Tuesday.The sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 26,897.84 points, closed at 26,777.45 points -- down 65.58 points, or 0.24 percent over the previous day's close at 26,843.03 points.It touched a high of 26,901.42 points and a low of 26,729.54 points in the day's trade.The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 19.75 points or 0.24 percent lower at 8,201.05 poi“ts."Key benchmark indices opened the day on a weak note and traded in a range-bound manner for most of the day. However, a precipitous fall around 2:30 p.m. pushed the markets deeper in the red, with key benchmark indices finally losing close to 0.25 percent for ”he day," said Shreyash Devalkar, fund manager - equities at BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
"Markets have been trading sideways for the last one week as investors book profits after a stellar rally. Participants also remained a bit skittish ahead of the RBI monetary policy tomorrow. While expectations of a rate action are low, one would like to focus on the Governor's commentary," Devalkar added.The 100-scrip and 200-scrip indices of the BSE were down by 0.21 percent and 0.18 percent, respectively. The mid-cap index was lower by 0.09 percent, while small-cap stocks were up by 0.22 percent.In Monday's trade, good buying was observed in realty and basic materials sectors, while selling pressure was seen in telecom and consumer durables sectors.Sector-wise, the S&P BSE realty index surged by 0.80 percent and basic materials index moved up by 0.55 percent. However, telecom index slipped by 1.97 percent and consumer durables index dropped by 1.39 percent.
The major Sensex gainers on Monday were: Tata Motors, up 1.51 percent at Rs.460.75; State Bank of India, up 1.30 percent at Rs.199.05; and GAIL, up 1.24 percent at Rs.374.70.The losers were: Bharti Airtel, down 2.62 percent at Rs.348.80; Lupin, down 2.08 percent at Rs.1,418.85; and Maruti, down 2.01 percent at Rs.4,135.15.Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei was down by 0.37 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index ended lower by 0.15 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained by 0.40 percent.In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was higher by 0.91 percent and Germany's DAX Index was up by 0.05 percent, while France's CAC 40 was down by 0.12 percent at the closing of the Indian markets.