Sensex slips 50 points, Nifty nears 11,900; auto stocks gain

NEW DELHI: Domestic equity indices kicked off Monday's session on a tepid note as traders were undecided amid rising Asian markets but a selling spree by foreign investors in India.

Net-net, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 867.66 crore on Friday, data available with NSE suggested. DIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 210.72 crore.

The 30-share benchmark Sensex dipped 44 points or 0.11 per cent to 40,401 in early trade while NSE barometer Nifty was down 18 points tp 11,903. Broader market indices were even lower as Nifty Midcap slipped 0.39 per cent to 16,666 and Nifty Smallcap shed 0.45 per cent to 5,671. Nifty500 was down 0.19 per cent to 9650.



Barring media, metal and auto, all sectoral indices on NSE were trading with losses. Nifty Realty was the biggest loser, down 0.58 per cent to 281.75, followed by Nifty Private Bank that skidded 0.54 per cent to 17,264.

Among gainers, Nifty Auto was up 0.5 per cent, thanks to a rally in index heavyweight Maruti Suzuki that was up 1.72 per cent to Rs 7,005. The stock was also the biggest gainer among Nifty and Sensex stocks.

Tata Steel, up 1.15 per cent at Rs 407 and Vedanta, up 1.37 per cent at Rs 143.90 were other gainers on the indices.


Vodafone Idea plunged 7.66 per cent to Rs 6.39 following comments from chairman Kumar Manglam Birla that it may have to shut shops in absence of government help.

Globally, Asian stocks edged up on Monday, catching some of Wall Street's momentum after surprisingly strong US jobs data although regional gains were capped by concerns about China's economic slowdown due to the prolonged Sino-US trade war.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei added 0.4 per cent while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.3 per cent, with Australian stocks and South Korea's KOSPI up 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.