Stock markets on Monday opened on a weak note with Sensex losing nearly 400 points in early trade.
Stock markets on Monday opened on a weak note with Sensex losing nearly 400 points in early trade, extending Friday's losses as investors cut bets amid weak domestic sentiment and absence of Asian cues.
The Sensex was at 33,827 points, shedding 469.67 points or 1.37%, in early trade led by fall in Tata Steel, SBI, Reliance Industries and L&T. It had lost 286.71 points in the previous on Friday.
NSE's Nifty lost 152.80 or 1.45% and was trading at 10,392.70 on Monday morning.
Brokers said investors trimmed positions on distinctly weak sentiment since the detection of a massive Rs 11,400-crore fraud at state-run Punjab National Bank (PNB).
PNB shares remained under selling pressure and lost another 6.28%.
India's second largest PSU bank, PNB on February 14 said it had detected a Rs 11,400 crore scam where billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi allegedly acquired fraudulent letters of undertaking (LoUs) from a branch in Mumbai to secure overseas credit from other Indian lenders.
The shares of PNB, SBI, Union Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Axis Bank had settled in red on Friday.
During the last three trading sessions, PNB lost Rs 8,731 crore in market capitalisation.
Other laggards were Tata Steel, SBI, L&T, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, M&M, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paint, Bajaj Auto, Yes Bank, ONGC, Coal India and Reliance Industries.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) continued selling on domestic bourses. On net basis, they sold shares worth Rs 1,065.99 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) made purchases to the tune of Rs 1,127.78 crore on Friday, provisional data showed.
The trend at Indian markets is in contrast with Asian shares which gained on Monday, triggered by a global recovery for equity markets.
Globally, in the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei rose 1.33%, while markets in Hong Kong and China remained shut today on account of a public holiday.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.08% higher on Friday.
During the past week, the Sensex had tumbled 286.71 points, or 0.84%, while the Nifty fell 93.20 points, or 0.88%.
(With PTI inputs)
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