Mumbai, June 15: Dismal global cues and a court ruling against heavyweight Reliance Industries Monday pulled down a key index of the Indian equities markets by more than 362 points.
Investors also sought to book profits in metal stocks, that contributed to the sharp fall in the Sensex, the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
The Sensex, which opened lower than its Friday closing figure, dipped about 362.42 points or 2.38 percent to end at 14,875.52 points.
The Sensex had fallen to an intra-day low of 14,807.26 points and touched a high of 15,195.83 points.
Like the Sensex, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too closed in the red, shedding 2.17 percent to close at 4,484 points.
The broader market indices also ended in the negative terrain, with the BSE midcap index ending 2.33 percent lower, while the BSE smallcap index was 2.14 percent down.
Of the 13 sectoral indices on the BSE, only the index for FMCG products ended in the green, while those for metal and energy stocks came under selling pressure.
Among gainers on the 30-scrip composite Sensex were Ranbaxy, up 1.91 percent at Rs.287.70; TCS, up 1.85 percent at Rs.778.60; Hindustan Unilever, up 1.74 percent at Rs.260.20, and Reliance Infra, up 1.37 percent at Rs.1,195.15.
Earlier in the day, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) won a long-drawn legal tussle with Reliance Industries over gas supplies at $2.34 per unit from the Krishna-Godavari basin in Andhra Pradesh.
RNRL will get assured gas supply of 28 million metric standard cubic metre per day (mmscmd) from the Krishna-Godavari basin for 17 years, the Bombay High Court ruled Monday.
The ruling pulled down the Reliance Industries stock by 7.48 percent to Rs.2,180.45.
Among other losers on the Sensex were Sterlite, down 7.61 percent at Rs.663.45; Tata Steel, down 4.77 percent at Rs.434.05, and L&T, down 4.76 percent at Rs.1,507.10.
The market breadth was negative: about 767 scrips advanced, 1,876 declined and 58 remained unchanged.
Trading volume declined compared to Friday with total traded turnover standing at Rs.96,944.67 crore as against Rs.107,004.36 crore the previous session.
This comprised Rs.20,748.78 crore from the NSE cash segment, Rs.69,109.05 crore from the NSE futures and options, and the balance Rs.7,086.84 crore from the BSE cash segment.
Data with the market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) showed that foreign funds bought shares worth $109.4 million Monday.
Other Asian markets too closed in the negative Monday with a key index of Tokyo markets, the Nikkei, slipping 96.15 points to end the day at 10,039.67 points.
The Hang Seng, the primary index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, also fell, dipping 390.72 points to 18,498.96 points.
Markets across Europe remained uncertain and largely flat, with the FTSE in Britain trading 74.03 points lower at 4,367.92 points, and its French peer CAC 40 ruling 58.19 points down at 3,267.95 points.
—IANS