An evening walk down Dalal Street | Last-hour selling drags Sensex lower, Nifty gives up 10,250; RIL down 4%

Weakness in the last hour of trade dragged equity benchmarks to low points. The Nifty ended the session below 10,250-mark, while the Sensex shed over 180 points.

Against this, the market had a strong start, with the Sensex and Nifty having risen a percent each.

Financials gave up all of their gains and were a lag on the benchmarks.

Along with them, energy, IT, and metals were the big losers. Sell-off in midcaps, too, added to the weakness, with the Nifty Midcap index falling over a percent lower.

There was some weakness among index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries. The stock ended 4 percent lower, while IndusInd Bank fell around 9 percent down.

The day had begun on a strong note as some positivity after the recent fall may have lead to more buying. A fall in crude prices may have aided the momentum as well. But soon the market turned choppy, witnessing some wild swings as well.

Sell-off in the last hour dragged the indices to low points.

At the close of market hours, the Sensex closed down 181.25 points or 0.53% at 34134.38, while the Nifty fell 58.20 points or 0.56% at 10245.30. The market breadth was negative as 832 shares advanced, against a decline of 1,758 shares, while 980 shares were unchanged.

ICICI Bank, NTPC, Indiabulls Housing and Eicher Motors are the top gainers, while IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, and BPCL lost the most.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals closed down 5 percent as investors turned wary of the stock after it declared September quarter results. The stock had risen in the morning after successfully clearing the first USFDA inspection.

Shares of Persistent Systems fell 15 percent despite good September quarter numbers declared by the company on October 21. Investors could be wary of the fall in dollar revenue by the firm.

Biocon gained 2 percent after CHMP (Europe’s medicines agency) issued a positive opinion recommending approval of Ogivri.

Hindustan Zinc reported second quarter net profit at Rs 1815 crore, down 29.5 percent against Rs 2,584 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. The stock fell a percent.

UltraTech Cement’s stock fell 4 percent after brokerage houses said earnings missed estimates on lower volume and higher cost. They expect 8-47 percent upside in the stock.

Indiabulls Ventures locked in 5% lower circuit ahead of board meet for preferential issue

Unichem Laboratories share price rallied 2 percent after the US health regulator cleared Pithampur and Roha facilities.

Shares in Europe were higher as investors took cues from local earnings along with positive sentiment. Stoxx 600 rose 0.7 percent in early deals.

Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose on Monday. The Shanghai composite added 4.09 percent to close at around 2,654.88.