Sensex ends below 25,000 on DII selloff

MUMBAI: Heavy selling from domestic institutions ahead of the financial year ending on March 31 dragged down stocks on Monday with benchmark indices ending their four-day winning run. Sentiment was nervous ahead of comments from US Fed chairperson Janet Yellen on Tuesday. Investors will parse her speech for hints on when and how much the Fed may raise rates next.

The Sensex lost 371.16 points or 1.5% to close at 24,966.40, and Nifty fell a little over 100 points or 1.3% to end at 7,615.10. Domestic institutions including mutual funds and insurers net sold shares worth Rs 2,494.44 crore. Market players said mutual funds could be selling to balance their books and meet cash flow needs ahead of the closing of the financial year.

“Generally it is a seasonal factor of tight liquidity before the year end,“ Phani Sekhar, fund manager-PMS at Karvy Capital said. Foreign institutional inflows however remain robust with these investors pumping `2,042.94 crore in stocks.

Weakness in the rupee against the US dollar also weighed on stock indices. However, the Indian currency managed to recoup losses at close at 66.57 to a dollar, after hitting a low of 66.87 on Monday.