Sensex plunges 371 points, closes below 25,000 on profit-booking

The 30-share Sensex opened higher at 25,417.11 and hovered between 25,432.94 and 24,895.49 before ending at 24,966.40, showing a fall of 371.16 points or 1.46 per cent.

The index gained 660.19 points in the previous four sessions. Domestic exchanges had remained closed on Thursday and Friday for ‘Holi’ and ‘Good Friday’, respectively.

Posting their biggest single-day fall in five weeks, domestic stock markets plunged 1.46 per cent on Monday as investors booked profit in recent outperformers ahead of a busy week of events, including the expiry of domestic derivative contracts.

The 30-share Sensex opened higher at 25,417.11 and hovered between 25,432.94 and 24,895.49 before ending at 24,966.40, showing a fall of 371.16 points or 1.46 per cent.

The index gained 660.19 points in the previous four sessions. Domestic exchanges had remained closed on Thursday and Friday for ‘Holi’ and ‘Good Friday’, respectively. The NSE Nifty tumbled 101.40 points, or 1.31 per cent, to 7,615.10 after shuttling between 7,749.40 and 7,587.70. Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities, said, “after a flat start, Nifty gradually inched lower on Monday and lost over a percent. Participants were in profit taking mood from the beginning, tracking mixed global cues and weakness in rupee against the US dollar. Also, they wish to lighten up their positions ahead of F&O expiry. As a result, we saw decline across the board, where underperformers like PSU bank, metal and realty counters lost maximum.””We see this fall as normal profit taking after a substantial rise of over ten percent in a month and reiterate our buy on dips advice.

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Earlier, we used to recommend defensive pack viz. pharma, FMCG during volatile scenario but now even these sectors witness sharp and erratic moves,” he said.Dipen Shah, Senior Vice-President, Kotak Securities, said, “markets started the week on a weak note.

The weakness persisted during the day, ahead of the expiry on Thursday and followed a strong performance of the markets over the past four weeks. Likely low participation from FIIs led to some weakness in the markets. Several European and a few Asian markets were closed today.” “Going ahead, markets will watch out for the all-important RBI policy meeting on April 5, post which quarterly results will dictate the stock specific trends. We will watch out for legislative action in the second half of the budget session, which will have important implications for the market,” Shah said.