Sensex, Nifty suffer 4th straight loss as Ukraine crisis simmers

The BSE Sensex dived around 700 points in the opening session but staged a recovery to briefly trade in the positive zone as market jitters were calmed by hopes of talks between the US and Russia over the Ukraine crisis

Domestic equity gauges Sensex and Nifty logged their fourth straight session of fall on Monday as participants remained cautious over lingering geopolitical tensions in eastern Europe.

Persistent foreign fund outflows added to the gloom, traders said.

Tracking deep losses in other Asian bourses, the BSE Sensex dived around 700 points in the opening session but staged a recovery to briefly trade in the positive zone as market jitters were calmed by hopes of talks between the US and Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

However, it wilted under selling pressure in the afternoon session to settle at 57,683.59, down 149.38 points or 0.26 per cent. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty slipped 69.65 points or 0.40 per cent to close at 17,206.65.

Of the 30 Sensex constituents, 21 shares ended in the red, with Sun Pharma, TCS, ITC, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement and Titan dropping up to 2.39 per cent.

In contrast, Wipro, Infosys, PowerGrid, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Maruti were among the major gainers, spurting as much as 1.45 per cent.

"Domestic indices started weak, taking cues from negative global peers but in between recouped most of its losses on reports of likely meeting between Biden and Putin over the Ukraine issue. However, the market could not stretch the direction and turned negative as uncertainty in the global markets continued.