Stressful day…Sensex snaps 3 day winning streak

Indian stocks ran out of steam on Monday amid an all-round selling, as disappointing results from Maruti and Jaiprakash Associates offset an upgrade of India's local currency rating by credit rating agency Moody's Investor Service.



"In what was a rarity in recent memory, India was one of the few markets in Asia that closed in the red, while the rest of the region posted decent gains in the wake of the mostly positive outcome of bank stress tests in Europe and Friday's rally on Wall Street," says Amar Ambani, Vice President, Research IIFL.

In the process, the NSE Nifty closed well below the 5,450 mark and the BSE Sensex barely managed to avoid a drop under 18,000.

Earlier, the Indian stock indices opened higher after only seven lesser known European banks failed a region-wide stress tests, but those early gains evaporated soon and the market turned lower. The market never quite recovered from there despite the Moody's announcement.

Elsewhere in the world, markets in Europe opened with slight gains but soon turned choppy amid doubts about the credibility of the bank stress tests. US stock futures too were pointing to a marginally negative start on Wall Street.

Finally, the BSE Sensex ended lower by 111 points to close at 18020 while the NSE Nifty lost 30 points to shut shop at 5,418.