Stock indices close at 1-month low on global flux

Germany remained in a state of flux though Chancellor Angela Merkel won a fourth term, but has to contend with an uneasy coalition to form the next government.

Asia's shares were a pale shadow of their former selves, which made investors here toe the line. Europe did not offer a promising picture either.

Quickly after the start, the BSE benchmark slipped into the red and hit a low of 31,474.56, but bargain hunters ruled for a while towards the fag end. It settled at 31,626.63, down 295.81 points -- or 0.93 per cent.

The index had lost 501.32 points in the previous four sessions.

The 50-issue NSE Nifty was stuck below the decisive 9,900 mark as it tumbled 91.80 points, or 0.92 per cent, to close at 9,872.60 after shuttling between 9,816.05 and 9,960.50.

The closing is lowest for both the key indices since August 29.

The currency market lost steam, with the rupee slipping considerably against the US currency during the day.

Soaring oil prices, which traded at 7-month high of USD 56.86 a barrel overseas, made the investors go back to the drawing board.

Sentiment has been decidedly low-key for quite some days now as the US and North Korea trade barbs and engage in a game of one-upmanship over the latter's ballistic missile programme.

"Weak Asian markets over North Korean jitters lent momentum to Indian stocks' falls earlier in the day... Second half found some buying though as markets had an eye on government stimulus plans expected later...," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Investors also digested the elections in New Zealand to plot their next move.

From the Sensex pack, Adani Ports turned red the most on the day -- sinking 3.29 per cent to Rs 388.05 -- followed by Kotak Bank.

Lupin, Tata Steel, ITC and M&M lost up to 2.20 per cent.

Coal India climbed 1.20 per cent followed by ICICI Bank.

Much of the damage came from the realty index, which fell 3.46 per cent. Healthcare, capital goods, metal were the other losers in the sectoral space.

Selling pressure gathered momentum in the broader markets, with the BSE small-cap index falling 2.02 per cent and mid-cap 1.14 per cent.

Foreign portfolio investors continued to give shares a wide berth, offloading net Rs 1,241.73 crore last Friday.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased shares worth Rs 521.17 crore, showed provisional data.

Globally, Japan's Nikkei, however, rose 0.50 per cent, helped by a weaker yen, while traders kept a close eye on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's announcement of a snap election.