India's key equity indices -- Sensex and Nifty -- extended their losses from the previous week to trade lower in early trade on Monday, amid bank strike and negative sentiment in the market.
At 9.54 a.m., Sensex was 0.6 per cent or 318 points down at 57,044 points, whereas Nifty was 0.5 per cent or 92 points down at 17,061 points.
Among the stocks, UPL, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top five losers among the Nifty 50 companies, while Bajaj Auto, Cipla, Bharti Airtel, ONGC, and Hindalco were the top five gainers, NSE data showed.
Retail investors have to be more vigilant in their investment by avoiding low-grade stocks and investing in high-quality stocks, said V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Banks on strike
Meanwhile, the banks began a nationwide strike on Monday (March 28) and Tuesday (March 29) to protest against the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and oppose the privatisation of public sector banks.
The decision to go on a strike was taken by a joint forum of central trade unions. The All India Bank Employees Association had on Saturday announced that it would observe two-day strike to oppose the move of the Central government.
Apart from banks, other business sectors are also likely to join the strike to show their solidarity with the banks against the policies of the Central government.
Telecom, oil, income tax, postal, coal, steel, copper, and insurance sectors might back the strike.
The joint forum of central trade unions has said that the new policies of the centre will affect their workers, farmers and people and it should be rolled back.
