Equity indices close lower; Nifty, Sensex down 1% each

New Delhi, March 21 India's key equity indices Sensex and Nifty - widened its opening session losses to settle sharply lower on Monday.

Rising crude oil prices amid no signs of settling down of war in Ukraine weighed on the investors' sentiment. "With no significant improvement in the tensions between Russia & Ukraine and uncertainty in the Gulf region, crude prices surged leading to a sell-off in the domestic market after the recent rally," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign institutional investors coming back to buying mode is positive for domestic equities but rise in bulk diesel prices and inflationary pressure is bending the domestic market, Nair added.

On Monday, Sensex settled 1.0 per cent or 571 points down at 57,292 points, whereas Nifty 1.0 per cent or 169 points at 17,118 points.

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty bank, auto and FMCG declined the most.

Among the individual stocks, Britannia, Grasim Industries, Tata Consumer, Shree Cement, and SBI Life were the top five losers among the Nifty 50 companies, declining 3.5 per cent, 3.1 per cent, 3.1 per cent, 3.0 per cent, and 3.0 per cent, respectively.

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