New Delhi, 8 December (H.S.): After two consecutive sessions of gains, Indian equity benchmarks closed sharply lower on Monday amid persistent foreign investor selling and profit-booking ahead of key global monetary policy decisions. The BSE Sensex tumbled nearly 610 points, while the NSE Nifty slipped below the crucial 26,000 mark.

The 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange fell 609.68 points, or 0.71%, to settle at 85,102.69, after plunging as much as 836.78 points intraday to a low of 84,875.59. The broader Nifty 50 index dropped 225.90 points, or 0.86%, to close at 25,960.55, having earlier touched a day’s low of 25,892.25.

Heavy losses were seen in index heavyweights including Bharat Electronics, Trent, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finserv, State Bank of India, Power Grid, Asian Paints, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Titan, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro, and Bharti Airtel. On the upside, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Reliance Industries, and HDFC Bank managed to end in positive territory.

Analysts said investor sentiment turned cautious ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy announcement, prompting traders to book profits after the recent rally. Weak global cues, continued foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows, and mixed trends in European markets added to the selling pressure.

Meanwhile, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, slipped 0.61% to USD 63.37 per barrel, further signaling investor caution across global risk assets.On Saturday, the markets had ended higher, with the Sensex climbing 447.05 points (0.52%) to 85,712.37, and the Nifty adding 152.70 points (0.59%) to close at 26,186.45, before Monday’s pullback erased those gains.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar