The S&P BSE Sensex fell 108 points on Monday, largely led by profit-booking by investors at higher levels despite positive global cues.
The Sensex closed at 27,361 points, down 0.40%, while the 50-share Nifty fell by 35 points, or 0.42%, to end at 8,260.
An interest rate cut by Chinese authorities failed to boost market sentiment. Global markets remained supported on the back of a reduction in key lending rate by China for the sixth time this year.
The People's Bank of China (PBoC) on Friday lowered the one-year lending rate to 4.35% from 6.00% and cut the reserve requirements for banks by 50bps in order to boost liquidity and curtail capital outflows from the country.
"While the initial market reaction was positive, such measures could be also interpreted as sign of desperation amongst Chinese officials who will meet in Beijing this week to work on a long-term economic plan with a focus on structural changes," said Rabobank in a note.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, Oil & Gas and Consumer Durables were the top losers; Bankex and Realty indices also remained under pressure.
Telecom major Bharti Airtel shares fell 1.9% despite a forecast- beating profit posted by the company for the second quarter in the current fiscal year. Its profit rose 10% on surging data usage.
"Bharti reported an inline revenue and margin performance in Q2 FY16 while profit was below our estimates; given strong positioning. We retain our positive bias on the stock," said Amar Ambani, Head of Research, IIFL.
The HDFC stock ended 2% lower despite declaring an 18% growth in its net profit to Rs 1,605 crore for the September quarter, which was in line with the Street's expectations.
"HDFC continues to post good set of numbers despite sluggish economic environment. Overall, we expect HDFC to post a healthy PAT CAGR of 15.3% over FY2015–17E. The stock has surged significantly from the lows witnessed in the month of August 2015 and currently, HDFC's core business (after adjusting INR 482/share towards the value of its subsidiaries) trades at 4.5x FY2017E ABV, which in our view, offers limited scope for upside here on. Hence, we maintain our NEUTRAL rating on the stock," said Vaibhav Agrawal, VP Research- Banking, Angel Broking.
Oil stocks were also under selling pressure due to weak crude oil prices overseas. Stock prices of Reliance Industries and state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) fell 1.3% and 1%, respectively.
"Nothing has changed as far as the market outlook is concerned. It is slightly overbought, so obviously some corrections have happened," Deven Choksey, managing director at KR Choksey Securities told NDTV Profit.
While BHEL, Vedanta, Bajaj-Auto, Tata Steel, GAIL, HCL Tech and HUL were among the gainers on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Asian Paints, Yes Bank, Coal India, HDFC, Ultratech Cement, Bharti Airtel and Zee Ent were among the losers.
On the commodities front, gold prices were under pressure ahead of US Federal Reserve meeting this week. The yellow metal ended Rs 20 lower at Rs 27,070 per 10 grams. However, silver prices rose Rs 60 to Rs 37,110 per kg on the back of improved demand.
The rupee fell 14 paise to 64.97 against the US dollar ahead of US Federal Reserve meeting this week.
