Indian equity benchmarks ended about a percent lower on Monday for the third session in a row. The market opened with a negative gap, as traders were worried after the latest payroll data released by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) showed the number of fresh formal jobs created declining for the second consecutive month in September, 9% sequentially to 930,000. 

Also Read: Gold, silver, and other metal prices on Monday, November 21, 2022

The Sensex fell 518.64 points or 0.84% to 61,144.84. The Nifty was down by 153.70 points or 0.84% to 18,153.95. 

The broader indices ended mostly lower with the BSE MidCap index losing 0.15% and the SmallCap index down by 0.03%. 

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were IT down by 1.46%, Power 1.42%, Utilities 1.41%, Realty 1.38%, and TECK 1.04%. While Telecommunication up by 0.71% and Consumer Durables 0.16% were only gaining sectoral indices on BSE.

Also Read: Elon Musk intends to fire more Twitter employees in a second round of layoffs: Report

Top laggards from the Sensex pack were Reliance Industries down by 1.83%, HDFC Ltd 1.80%, 1.63%, TCS 1.78%, Tech Mahindra 1.78%, Infosys 1.61%, Bajaj Finance 1.56%, Wipro 1.40%, Tata Steel 1.23%, Bajaj Finserv 1.18%, and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories 1.14%.

Gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.70%, Axis Bank 1.22%, IndusInd Bank 1.21%, Hindustan Unilever 0.76%, Powergrid 0.39%, Titan Company 0.21%, Maruti Suzuki 0.19%, and ICICI Bank 0.07%.

Also Read: Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal become parents to twins

The rupee fell 7 paise to close at 81.81 against the US dollar on Monday.

Asian markets settled mostly lower with the KOSPI Composite down by 1.02%, the Nikkei 225 up by 0.11%, Shanghai Composite down by 0.39%, and the Hang Seng down by 1.87%.

European stock exchanges were trading lower in mid-session deals. The US equity markets ended flat on Friday.

Also Read: Laid off Meta, Twitter, Amazon employees can get $100,000 from this company: All you need to know

Brent crude futures, the international oil benchmark, fell 0.91% to $86.82 per barrel.

According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional investors sold shares worth a net of Rs  751.20 crore on Friday.